Pinky Promises
by BlackRoseKai
Summary: REWRITE of Low Rise Jeans and Rock music! What if Haruhi hadn't stumbled into the Host club and Rikku Samato had! MorixOC Rated T for now but it may raise to M!
1. Chapter 1: From Today, You're a Host!

**Karson27: You're rewriting?**

**Me: Yeah. I didn't like that the original was so short and I didn't feel like I covered everything.**

**Karson27: Face it. You just wanted to rename it because the title had nothing to do with the story.**

**Me: That too! **

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

All I was trying to do was hide. To get away from all of the people at Ouran. Flee to somewhere quiet so I could study some and just be. Of course that wouldn't happen. My klutziness caught up with me and now, I was in it deep.

"Well," I choked on words, staring at the dangerously good looking boys in front of me. My green eyes were huge, unable to look away and my face was flushed red with embarrassment. "This is awkward."

"I'd say so," the boy in glasses saying, scribbling some things down in a black notebook. He was older than me but it couldn't have been by a lot. Maybe a year. He didn't look like he was too nice."You broke something very important to us."

"Um," I said slowly. I couldn't afford the tiling on the floor of Ouran, much less some stupid misplaced vase that I'd magically bumped into and broken while trying to hide from the way to straight forward blonde boy.

Just what kind of music room was this? I couldn't figure anything out because nothing was making sense. All of the synapses in my brain stopped firing.

"We were going to auction that off," one of the twins said glaring at me. He sounded like snooty, probably because he was. Most of the people at Ouran were.

Those two, I knew because they were in the same class as me. The Hitachiin twins, Hikaru and Kaoru. They didn't really talk to me but I'd never tried to talk to them. I had other things to worry about. I didn't use school like a playground. Little did I know, I was about to spend a lot of time with them.

"How much?" I squeaked. I wondered if I could fit enough zeroes in my head.

"Roughly? Eight million yen," glasses boy said, sliding his glasses up his nose.

I'd never see eight million yen in my lifetime. Ever. Damn rich people. Who just leaves eight million dollar vases sitting in the middle of the room? Besides them?

"Judging from your uniform, you don't have a lot of money so it looks like you're going to have to work the debt off. In other words: You're now the Host Club's dog."

I hung my head at the title. Great. Another job. That's all I needed. As if I didn't have enough to worry about and another debt just brought my horrific day crashing down around me. Why was it always me? Why couldn't the great cosmic Mana master in the sky pick on someone else for once?

"Are you okay?" the little blonde Lolita asked, skipping up to me, tightly holding his bunny. I'd been spacing out and hadn't noticed that the host had gone back to doing whatever it was they were doing. "My name is Honey and this is Usa-chan. What's your name?"

"R-Rikku. Rikku Samato," I managed out. I wanted to scream and faint, right there. I suddenly wasn't feeling so well and nothing was really making sense. I couldn't really breathe either.

"You don't look so good," Honey said, his large fawn eyes looking up at me. "Doesn't she look like she's going to faint, Takashi?"

I went from looking down to looking up, in an instant. Takashi Morinozuka. Third year with Honey, the little bottle of joy that was now shoving his bunny doll in my arms. He was tall and silent, with a big intimidation factor going for him. But he wasn't intimidating in the way that most guys his size were. He was like, a gentle giant.

"Usa-chan will make you feel better," Honey said shoving his bunny doll in my arms completely. He looked at me closely for a moment and then smiled, skipping away. Mori dutifully followed him, giving me a flat look, which I didn't think was any different from his normal look.

"There is another way," glasses boy said, standing next to me still scribbling stuff down in that little black notebook - I had to give it a better name. Just calling it a black book all the time would get old. He moved like a ninja and startled me a little when he came up.

"Another way to what?" I blinked in confusion and tried to recover myself. I didn't know what he meant but then again, I didn't understand anything at the moment.

"If you could get a thousand girls to request you, the debt will be all paid off," he gave me an evil smile. I wasn't sure if he was being nice or if he was playing with me. I wasn't sure if there was a difference with these damn rich people. Now my head was really spinning, making me feel even more sick than I already was.

"What was your name again?" I asked, deciding that should at least know the name of the man who now owned my soul.

"Kyoya Ootori," he answered simply. He didn't really look like a Kyoya to me. "Now, for our bargain. You can become a host and once a thousand girls have requested you, your debt will be repaid. Hitachiins!"

The twins were suddenly in front of me, with devilish grins on their faces. I instantly took a step back, slightly frightened by them.

"Clear her up. Make her look like a host," Kyoya instructed. I had a new name for him alright. Devil Man. And that Black Book of Demon Knowledge. He was not at the top of my favorite list but he wasn't there in the first place.

"Yes sir!" The twins said together, grabbing me by both arms. They rushed me to the changing room It was a whirlwind of activity. I got a hair cut, mostly because mine made me look like a psycho. Originally, it was slightly short but had been growing out and was laying messily all over the place. Now it was cut short enough that you'd have a hard time grabbing it in a fight but it was long enough to style.

"Time for wardrobe," they announced shoving me behind the curtain. Hanging up on the hook was a new uniform, that was fancy just like theirs, perfectly tailored to my body. I wondered how they did it in such a small amount of time but I didn't ask. Instead, I began changing. Stripping the basic uniform that I had on.

I wanna see! I wanna see!" came Tamaki's voice from behind the curtain. He so wouldn't come in while I was changing.

"Sorry boss but" they began together.

"but you can't go in there," Kaoru said.

"Rikku's changing." Hikaru finished.

"That doesn't mean anything." Could he really be that dense? The twins would surely be able to prevent him form entering the changing room.

"Boss NO!" They cried, trying to hold him back but he came trough the curtain anyway. I'd just taken off my first layer of clothing. I'd already put on the uniform pants and was working on the shirt. Tamaki's eyes met mine and his face went super red.

"Get out of here you creeper!" I cried, kicking him like a football. Mostly it was a reaction. I quickly got dressed before we pursued the matter any further.

Honey and Mori clapped in approval, as did all of the Host Club except Tamaki who was content to just cry about me kicking him in the face. I looked at each of them, still confused and really embarrassed. I was also very amazed that Tamaki hadn't figured out that I was a girl.

"So, why were you in a boys uniform?" Hikaru asked.

"Because, they way more comfortable, and I really don't have a body type for the girls uniforms. They were also cheaper."

They looked at me like they'd never heard of the word cheaper. Damn rich people. I had a feeling like I was going to be saying that a lot.

"So... you're a girl?" Tamaki cautiously asked. He even had to ask.

It wasn't like I looked like a boy. I mean, with my lack of chest and short hair it was easy to make the mistake but I didn't sound like a boy. A four year old boy maybe but that was about as close to a boy as I got. Most girls did. I didn't even act like a boy. I just minded my own business.

"Yes," I sighed. I wondered how the rest of the Host Club apparently figured it out but he couldn't.

"But, from now on, you'll be masquerading as a boy," the Devil man said. "Until you pay off your debt."

"We should let you show off her feminine charm!" Tamaki cried. What melodrama.

"Boss, you thought," Hikaru began.

"she was a girl until just now," Kaoru continued.

"We don't think that feminine charm is an issue," they finished together.

"Are you insulting me?" I asked, unsure. I gave them a glare but I was pretty sure they didn't find me very vicious.

They just grinned devilishly at me. Those two would give me the run around for sure. I wondered how fast I would have to be to out run them. I vaguely knew that I wouldn't be able to but it was probably worth a shot.

"In that case," Tamaki said, being as over dramatic in his movements and his words as humanly possible. "From today, Rikku Samato, you are a host!"

Damn.

When I finally made it home, I was beyond exhausted and my chest hurt. I flopped on my bed, vaguely aware that I need to take my inhaler. I heard my phone vibrating, making a horrible sound and it vibrated against the wood of my bedside table. I knew I had to answer it or pay the dire consequences.

My hand patted around, desperately trying to find the plastic contraption. Finally, I did.

"Hello?" I answered, feeling the warmth that the back light of the screen on my ear and cheek.

"Rikku," came a gravelly voice. I hated the voice but the voice belonged to someone that I wouldn't be alive without. "You have a bit of business coming up. I hope you're available in two weeks."

"You're calling very early this time, Boss," I said casually.

"I know that you've started back to school. It's important that you attend but you have more important obligations. I'd hate to be a burden," he said smoothly.

"Of course not."

We hung up.

_Hate to be a burden? Yeah right. You've always been a burden to me._

**I'm glad I rewrote this! Thank you for reading and please leave reviews. I just love reading them!**


	2. Chapter 2: I Promise I Fell

**Me: Chapter two!**

**Karson27: You're excited.**

**Me: Only slightly!**

**Karson27: You're hopeless.**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

One month... That's exactly how long I'd been apart of the Ouran High Host Club. I didn't think I'd survive so long at first but now... after my first fight of the school season... I knew I wouldn't. I didn't know what I was going to do about the rest of the year.

_If I can just make it through first hour without the twins freaking out about my face, _I thought. I had a big purple bruise on my chin and a fat, split and swollen lip. _Maybe I'll have a good lie by the time we get to our second hour class._

__I kept my head low as I stepped onto the campus. I didn't wave or say anything to anyone, I hoped that people just knocked it off as me not feeling well. I took my seat between the twins and laid my head down, enjoying the coolness of the wood against my cheek. My entire body was sore. Even getting up and getting read for school was painful and there was not enough make up in the world to cover up the contusions on my face.

"Hey, Rikku," Kaoru said from my right.

"Is something wrong?" Hikaru asked from my left.

"No," I said slowly, pulling my arms around my head, to protect any possible peeks, from the twins. "Just a headache."

They didn't say anything for a moment. I almost tempted to peak to see if they were staring at me but just as I was about to, they started speaking again.

"We don't believe you," they said flatly.

That was the craziest thing I'd ever heard. "Why not?" I asked, not even bothering to hide my irritation. I wasn't usually like that so the probably knew that something was really up.

"You don't get headaches," Hikaru said.

Scratch that last. _That _was the craziest thing I'd ever heard. "Are you stupid?" I cried jerking up but I gasped remembering myself and ducked my head. It was too late, they'd seen.

Kaoru grabbed my arm. I yelped, trying to wiggle myself free. I had a bruise there too, really I had bruises all over me. Hikaru managed to get his hands on my face, turning it, so I could look him full in the face..

"Stop!" I whined. It hurt for them to touch me. I was covered in bruises. I wiggled against their insistent grips.

"What happened to you?" Hikaru breathed, his hands slipping away from my face and dropping to his sides. His twin also released me and flopped back into my chair, slightly exhausted from the brief moment. His golden eyes were resting on me, wide with shock and heavy with worry and fear.

"Nothing," I said, finally looking away, unable to take the weight of his gaze.

"That's a lie," Kaoru said flatly. Like his twin, his eyes were huge with worry and fear. I had to look away from him too, deciding that it was best to look down in my lap, inspecting my slightly bruised hands and knuckles.

A lie hit me. Just like that and I wasn't able to stop it from escaping past my lips. "It's kind of embarrassing," I said returning my gaze to them. I made myself blush a little which wasn't so hard since I really was embarrassed. "Last night I was going down my fire escape to pay my rent for the month and I fell down the steps. I rolled down like two flights of stairs."

They almost didn't buy it. Actually, they weren't close to buying it, I could tell by their flat looks, but they thankfully didn't press it any longer... probably because they didn't even know what a fire escape was. Much less to the fact that I didn't have one. I hoped that would be the end of it.

I pimped that story around the rest of the day. Stupid rich people. They believed anything, which for once was a good thing. As the day drug on, my heart began to work over time, my chest hurt, and it felt like I was drowning for air. I couldn't catch my breath and even walking became a chore.

It seemed like the host clubroom was a million miles away but I finally managed to stagger in weakly, gripping my chest. The pains had gotten worse and I didn't know what I was going to do. My had swam from the effort of pushing the door open.

Honey, not aware of my situation, tried to get me in one of his usual kill someone tackle hugs. My legs instantly gave out. We both went rushing to the ground because I didn't have the strength to catch him. I flinched, preparing for impact but it never came.

Mori caught us, one arm around my waist, the other holding Honey by his cousin by the back of his jacket. I was surprised but I wasn't. He was like the dark scarey protector of Honey. Thank god for ninja reflexes. Honey instantly dropped to his feet, his big doe eyes looking at me concerned. Mori swung me up and carried me to the couch.

I was gasping for air. I didn't know if it was from the shock of being saved by Mori and nearly killed by Honey or from the lack of oxygen to my lungs.

"What happened to my poor little baby?" Tamaki cried, attempting to fling himself on me. He was blocked by Mori. I'd have to thank my senior for that. He would've strangled what little air I had left in me right out of me in no time.

"You don't look so good, Ri - chan," Honey said, his fawny eyes filled with worry. Reminded me of how the twins looked at me earlier that day. I didn't know how to respond. It was much harder to lie to him, probably because he looked so young.

"She's hurt," Mori said simply. That was probably the longest sentence he's ever said in front of me. He didn't talk too much.

"What happened to your face, Rikku?" Kyoya asked, adjusting his glasses up his nose. Again with that stupid demon knowledge book. I wanted to demolish it to watch him cry...

But that would have to wait until I could breathe again. I gripped my chest tighter. My world had little black star bursts dancing across it and things were beginning to swirl together.

"Um, Kyoya - sempai," Hikaru said.

"We think something's really wrong," Kaoru said.

"Would it have anything to do with your fall down the fire escape?" they asked, leaning in.

I shook my head furiously. This definitely wasn't because of that. This was something else. Something that I was very familiar with but couldn't do anything about.

"We know what a fire escape is by the way," Kaoru said sounding insulted and matter of fact.

"and we know you wouldn't have one." Hikaru said. He sounded just like his brother.

"So what really happened?" they demanded.

"Not now," Mori insisted. He was sure talkative today. "She can't breathe."

"We should take her to the nurse," Honey said, holding Usa - chan tightly to his chest. "She really looks bad."

I shook my head again. I didn't want to go to the nurse. I didn't do so well in hospitals or rooms that slightly resembled hospitals.

"No choice," Mori told me, picking me up again. My breathing hitched a little and Mori stopped, looking at me. Concerned was obvious in his dark eyes. "Mitskuni."

I didn't have the will power or the strength to fight off Mori or wiggle away. My entire body felt like it was made of jello and it was a horrible feeling. It hurt but it couldn't do anything. I just wanted the pain to stop. It did. Once I passed out.

When I woke, I was in a nice soft bed. So I knew it wasn't mine. The linens were nice and soft too. I almost didn't want to get up. Wait. What time was it?

I jerked up, making my head swirl like a blender.

"Whoa," I gasped, putting a hand on my forehead, leaning forward to rest my elbows on my knees. I felt almost as bad as I did when I passed out.

"Slow down," Kyoya said, adjusting his glasses. "According to the nurse, you had an asthma attack. Were you aware you have chronic asthma?"

"No." Another lie. Kyoya probably knew that but he knew everything. Thankfully, he didn't call me on it."What time is it?" I asked, looking up.

"Four o'clock," Hikaru answered.

_Damn it, _I thought, jumping up. The world danced and I staggered, almost falling forward on to my face. Mori caught me, with a warm arm in front of me. I again was thankful for his perfect reflexes.

"You're sick!" the twins cried.

"You don't need to move so much!" Tamaki wailed.

"I - I have to go," I choked, feeling weaker than when I woke up. I tried to push away from Mori but he kept a hold on my elbow.

"I'll be happy to call for a car to take you home," Kyoya said. He really didn't sound too happy but for him, it was a nice gesture.

"I - I'm not going home," I said as Mori sat me back down on the bed. My voice was shaking as much as my hands were and I was desperately trying to figure out an excuse for me to leave.

"Then any place you wanna go, we'll take you," the twins insisted.

"You're sick," Kaoru informed me. Like I didn't know but I wasn't really sick. Just diseased or something but I didn't correct him.

"And injured," Hikaru agreed. Again, talk about a news flash.

"The nurse did express concern about your injuries," Kyoya said, adjusting his glasses again. That was an annoying habit of his. "They're not consistent with a fall. My family does own a chain of hospitals. I'll be more than willing to get you in to see a doctor."

"It's nothing," I said standing, more slowly this time, to gain some bearings. I had to get half way across town and fast but I couldn't get a ride with the host club. It would be entirely too difficult to explain what I was doing in such a skeezy area. "I … have to leave."

"Ri-chan" Honey said trying to use his puppy dog eyes to sucker me into staying and explaining. I would've worked, if I didn't like living so much. "We can't help you if you don't tell us what's wrong."

I smiled weakly and patted the top of his little blond head. "It's nothing. really. Just a bad couple of days. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

With that. I squeezed past their objections and out cries, ran down the hall, which took a lot of effort on my part, and the street. To face yet another day in my double life. I wondered how much longer I could hold out.

I had a feeling it wasn't going to be much longer.

**Chapter two is finished. I hope you liked it! Haha. Please make sure to review and tell me what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3: What Is The Point Of This?

**Me: I'm liking how this one is beginning to go. I still need to add more chapters. They're going to be really good. I hope.**

**Karson27: Nervous much?**

**Me: Just a bit.**

**Make sure to REVIEW!**

The building that was heading to was an old abandoned warehouse, even though it was totally cliché but I kind of thought that may have been the point. The windows were either boarded or bricked and only a few actually had some remnants of glass in them. It was dreary and barely lighted on the outside, trying to look inconspicuous, a pointless attempt because there were way too many cars in the parking lot for it to be abandoned. Luckily, there weren't any real cops in the area.

"You're late Rikku," the bouncer (I'd secretly name him Bo) said as I passed. He was the only one here who didn't look at me like I was a toy or something. He was tall and very muscular with square shoulders and a jaw to match. I liked him and he always made sure I got home after particularly harsh battles.

"I know. I know. Got caught up at school," I said shaking my head. I had to go home and change from my nice Ouran uniform into my ratty street clothes. I'd be mugged walking around in fancy clothes, having no money, I'd probably be stabbed too.

I still wasn't feeling any better but who needed to breathe anyway? Apparently I didn't. That or I was possibly borderline crazy.

"The boss is waiting for you," he said letting me pass. As usual, he gave me a look that held a heavy question, one he'd never asked but I knew what it was. He wanted to know how I ended up in such a bad situation, digging my own grave. The answer was one I'd never give because I didn't even really know. Circumstances?

"Later."

"Hope I recognize you." he called.

_Me and you both Bo, _I thought, heading inside the building.

It was like a whole other world inside that building. There were angry screaming people, surging collectively like one body, circled around a self contained war. It wasn't the war that most people would think of. It wasn't thousands of men with semi automatic weapons, bearing down at each other. It was only two people, a blur of sounds and faint messages of pain and rage. The salty stench of blood, sweat, and fancy perfume floated in the air, smothering my already pained and stressed lungs. I didn't even stop to watch the fight. I'd seen it all before and chances were, I'd faced the competitors in battle at some point.. I shoved my way to the locker rooms, wading mostly unnoticed by the intense and massive crowd.

"Rikku," the man who I and everyone else called Doc, properly named as that was his job, said, grabbing my arm, not too tightly, knowing that I was still injured, and dragging me away. "It's about time. It's nearly time for your fight. Boss!"

Boss Sebachi was an older man. He always wore fancy Italian suits and chewed on a cigar. He had gray streaked black hair and cruel black eyes that, if you looked closely, reflected all of the souls he'd stolen from the innocent people that had been sucked into his web of lies. He was like a vampire spider.

"Rikku," he half growled. He had a voice that reminded me of someone gargling gravel. I never could look him in the eyes easily when he spoke. I knew what he did and what he would do. No price was too much when it came to the boss getting money. "You have to lose tonight but it won't be an easy loss."

I hated it when he said that. He meant that there was a large chance that this guy was going to beat me to death with his bare hands. My opponent was just another sadistic fighter, mindlessly fighting for no other reason but to see the blood of "weaker" people gushing around their fingers or to see the light go out of someone's eyes as they strangled the life out of them. I almost didn't want to do it. Actually, every synapse in my brain was screaming for me to not fight, to run out of that building, flee the country and never look back. Of course, I couldn't even listen to myself. Boss must have sensed my apprehension because he got an amused smile on his face.

"Remember, Rikku," he said leaning close to me. I could smell the cloves in his cigar, which strangled my lungs even more, and I could count the wrinkles on his face. I didn't like being so close. "You still owe me. You don't want to disappoint me now do you?"

I shook my head, looking down at the ground. I felt heat rise up in my cheeks, knowing that Boss Sebachi was right. He gave a chuckle and walked away, a new swing in his step. Doc took my hands and wrapped them up, attempting to guard my knuckles against scraping and getting blood in the wounds I already had acquired. He patted my shoulder and I turned to face my music.

Stepping into the ring was always the worst. I hated being stared at, which was dumb since I had been doing this since I was eleven. I hated the heat, the smell, and the dull roar that gave me a headache.

My heart beat painfully against my chest and since it was already working over time, it kind of felt like the whole thing was going to finally manage to beat its way out of my rib cage. My stomach lurched uncomfortably, threatening to kick back my lunch. The screams faded into a roar that didn't make any sense, not that you could sort out the random screams, taunts and curses in the first place. I didn't care what they were saying. My opponent entered the ring.

_Why are they always so ugly? _I wondered. the guy was like eight hundred feet tall and a million pounds. He had a big scar across his face and he was just ugly, wearing a snarl that would make the doctor slap his mother for birthing such a hideous thing. I knew that the man's well earned abs were harder than steel and that his muscles weren't for show. This guy probably spent his days pumping iron and shooting up, like that Russian guy in Rocky.

The match started, war began. Nothing new for my life. I faked a good fight, taking punches like a pro. Returning them like one too. I wasn't a fool and I wasn't new in the business of fighting. In the end, I got beaten up really bad, which was part of my job description. That was part of throwing a fight. You had to make it believable or get beaten up bad enough, shed enough blood, that the blood loving leeches in the crowd wouldn't ask too many questions. I couldn't even walk out of the match. I couldn't even stand on my own two feet. Doc and a couple of other fighters drug me out.

Doc had me taken to the locker rooms. I was sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, to exhausted and in too much pain to sit up by myself. Doc did his best but his services weren't free or part of a package deal for working for Boss. He did run me a little cheaper but he still was expensive. He did the most major doctoring, leaving me to handle the minor stuff. Boss came by, a chipper smile on his face and a bigger than large roll of cash gripped in his greed little claws.

"That was probably your best fight yet, Rikku," he congratulated, handing me a small fraction of the money in his hand. It would be enough to keep me alive, fed, and housed until my next fight. It would be a while with any luck.

After a while, Bo took me home. I managed to get myself up the steps and into my apartment on my own. Every step sent a new wave of pain coursing through my body, every muscle rejecting each movement my brain was telling it to make.

I laid in bed, sobbing from how bad I hurt. I couldn't change clothes, doctor myself, or shower off the blood that was caking on my clothes, face, and seeping onto my bed. Breathing hurt, not just internally like it did when my asthma was acting up, it was just from the effort of me telling my lungs to expand, which was now a conscious effort. There was no way I could make it to school the next day. I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to make it out of my bed. I finally drifted to sleep, if only because I was too exhausted to keep myself conscious, some where around six o'clock in the morning.

-Mori-

Rikku wasn't at school and, for whatever, that scared me immensely. I could tell that everyone was pretty worried. My cousin was distracted, his brown eyes full of an uncharacteristic worry and seriousness. The girls asked about her but no one had an answer for where the rookie host was. Thinking about what kind of shape she was in the day before, I was really worried that something bad, well, something worse had happened.

"Takeshi," Mitskuni asked me in a tiny voice, staring at his barely touched cake. We weren't hosting at the moment and he'd been trying all day to act normal and distract himself with sweets, which normally worked . "Do you think that Ri-chan's okay? She was really hurt last night."

I didn't like to lie. Especially to my cousin. Judging by how Rikku had looked the day before, chances were that she wasn't too healthy. I knew that if she'd was hospitalized, someone would've contacted us. If not us, then the school. Either way, Kyoya would've known since he seemed to know everything. Mitskuni understood my silence like normal and his face dropped.

Finally, after it was more than obvious that none of the hosts were up for hosting, Kyoya dismissed all the girls, claiming that we had important business to attend to. Once all of their clients had cleared out, Kyoya pulled his cell phone out, hitting a button and pressing it to his face. He had a look of determination on his face.

"Kyoya - sempai," Hikaru - or Kaoru I never could tell them apart – said cautiously.

"What are you going to do?" his twin finished.

I felt Mitskuni crawl up my back and cling, searching for comfort like a small child. I wouldn't be comforted until I knew that Rikku was okay.

"I'm going to find our other idiot," he answered flatly, his glasses flashing.

_I just hope she's okay. _I thought closing my eyes in silent prayer.

**Chapter Three! Squee! Please make sure to update!**


	4. Chapter 4: Missing School

**I hope you guys are enjoying. I kinda wish I'd get more reviews. So please make sure you do after reading!**

**Thank you!**

There was a pounding on my door, it was the familiar steady banging of fist to wood. It was annoying. It was like someone was beating on my head, making it throb in time to the pounding of my head and the pulsating pain in my body..

_How much did I drink last night? Did I drink last night? _I wondered, knowing how I like to throw some down to dull the pain. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly. _Wait, don't have any of that stuff. I'm trying to sober up._

__Then headache was just from the hammering I got last night from Big - n - ugly. The knocking got louder, making it nearly impossible to ignore. I draped my arm across my face, hoping it would stop after a while. It didn't and it was really getting on my nerves.

"Crucified Christ," I grumbled, dragging myself out of bed. It was a slow process but I managed it. I hurt all over and there were blood stains on my sheets and clothes. I was too tired to clean up last night. I felt the cakey, cracking blood all over me.

"Rikku!" came a familiar voice. That was Tamaki.

I froze, standing between my bedroom and the bathroom, my heart pounding hard against my chest. _What are they doing here?_ My mind was racing, still waking up and swirling from too many thoughts trying to shove their way in before I'd really woken up. _How did they even find my house? Kyoya... _I couldn't let them see me how I was, they'd all simultaneously die of heart failure. I didn't want to see them at all, I wasn't in any state to handle their wild antics.

How long had I been asleep? Shouldn't those idiots be in school? They could pound out there all day and yell for me all they wanted, I wasn't going to answer them.

I stumbled back to my my bathroom. Once there, I painfully peeled my clothes off, holding my breath to keep from crying out too loudly, for fear of alerting the host club. After I was naked, I jumped in the shower. The hot water took some of the ache out of my tired muscles and washed away the built up blood, making me clean once again.. I climbed out, steam billowing around me like a transparent curtain. Nothing better than a hot shower to help you feel better about another miserable fight.

The knocking was still going on. Wow, they were persistent. Why wasn't someone shooing them away? Useless landlady. She shouldn't be letting anyone stand there and beat on my door.

I disposed of my blood caked clothes in my clothes hamper, shoving them all the way to the bottom. It wasn't like I lived with anyone but I never knew when I might have unwanted guests. I pulled on a pair of black basketball shorts that hung to my knees and a white t-shirt that had a black dripping heart on it, in written red it said Black Hearts. There was still knocking. Why wouldn't they just leave?

I bandaged myself up, which took a lot longer than I thought it would, and took some Tylenol, hoping to at least dull the pain. Those guys just weren't going to quit. How much longer until they just figured I wasn't home?

"We know you're in there, Rikku!" the twins said loudly.

"Answer the door!" Kaoru said.

"Or we're kicking it in!" Hikaru finished.

I couldn't afford a new door and door frame nor did I want to explain to my landlady that I had a bunch of crazy teenage boys kicking down my doors. I hurried to answer it. Just in time too. Mori had his leg raised to kick it in. I couldn't believe that they were serious about that. Did they have no common sense among them? I sighed keeping my head slightly down, pushing Mori's leg toward the ground again.

"Jeez," I said, sounding irritated and worn, which was exactly how I felt. "You would've thought when I didn't answer that I didn't want visitors."

Tamaki nearly tackled me over, pure joy written all over his dumb blond face. I yelped, shoving myself from his grasp. I couldn't keep my balance and tripped over my own feet, my butt slamming into the ground.

I looked up, one eye closed and a grimace on my face from the pain. They all looked mortified - even the usual stone faced Mori and Kyoya. I knew I looked terrible but they didn't have to stare. It was rude and made me uncomfortable. I looked away, my face turning slightly red.

"I'll make some tea," I said getting to my feet slowly. "Take your shoes off."

They did as I instructed, grimly and they kept giving me worried, disbelieving looks. Not so talkative anymore, which was a relief for my headache. They sat at my kitchen table. I brought the tea in and sat with them. None of them moved for a long moment and the silence was killing me.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded, not wasting anytime on formalities.

"We were worried after you didn't come to school today, Ri - chan," Honey said in a small voice. He didn't look up at me, rather, his brown eyes were inspecting something on the floor.

"Especially after what happened," the twins threw in. They wouldn't look at me either.

"Well did it ever occur to you that I just didn't feel well?" I cried, making me want to flinch but I managed past it. "I can take care of myself! I don't need your help! Or sympathy!"

I may have over reacted a tad. Just a smidge but I didn't care. I didn't need their help. I'd been on my own for nearly five years and I didn't need them now. I'd survived just fine without them.

"We just wanted to make sure you're okay," Tamaki said. Even he was serious and that made me hesitate for a moment.

"I'm fine," I spat. I looked away to hide the embarrassment growing on my cheeks, even I didn't believe myself and I knew that they didn't either. "I just... I'm just sore and tired okay? I just needed to sleep yesterday off. Once you finish your tea... I'd like for you to leave."

I got up and left, heading for my room, with as much dignity as I could.

_I don't need their help. I'm just fine on my own. _I thought angrily. I shut my bedroom door behind me with a little more force than necessary. I leaned back against the door, heavily and slowly slid down into the floor, landing on my butt with a light thump. I pulled my knees to my chest, folding my arms together, resting them on top my knees. I laid my head on them, trying to find some comfort.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Kyoya said through the door, tapping the wood lightly with his knuckles.

I didn't answer. I heard all of them leave, quietly shuffling away. Crucified Christ, what had I gotten myself into? I leaned my head back, looking toward my ceiling, tears forming in my eyes.

-Mori-

_Something about this whole thing is wrong,_ I thought as Mitskuni and I rode in the limo back to our respective homes. _I just can't get it out of my head. _

__The image of Rikku, someone who was almost smaller than my cousin, beaten up and bruised, gazing up at us in pain and fear... it was drilling into my head and it wouldn't leave. Her green eyes were wide, a big black and purple bruise forming around one of them. He lip was split and she had a bandage taped over her left eyebrow. Her knuckles were bandaged up and I could see bruises, blue, black, and yellow splotches splashed against her pale skin.

"Takeshi," Mitskuni said, his legs dangling above the floor of the car. I looked at him to acknowledge that I'd heard him. "Are you thinking about Ri–chan?"

"Ah," I confirmed nodding my head slightly.

"Me too," he said, staring down at his feet. "I can't help but wonder if she's in real big trouble."

He was probably right. That made me crazy. I didn't like feeling like I was totally useless. I didn't like thinking that someone I knew was in such serious trouble and wouldn't let me do anything to help them, wouldn't even tell me what was wrong.

"I wish we could just get her to tell us," he admitted. He looked up at me, almost pleading me to help him and make him feel better like I usually did.

A plan instantly cooked up in my head, burning through my brain like a wild fire, but I couldn't tell Mitskuni. Not that I wanted to keep secrets from him, I never did that but … it was just something that I needed to do alone.

-Rikku-

I woke to knocking again, it was firmer and less urgent. I hadn't realized that I'd fallen asleep sitting in front of my bedroom door. I couldn't see any light filtering around my bedroom curtain, so that told me that I'd been asleep for a long time. I sat up, rubbing my eyes, despite the pain, and stretched a little before standing and stumbling to the door.

I pulled it open, thinking it may have been Bo, but I was surprised to find Mori – without Honey. Today was just full of surprises. I stared at him for a moment and he stared back, his kind dark eyes resting on me. The street lights gave his face an eerie glow, the shadows stretching across his features, making him look a lot meaner than he was.

"M-Mori-sempai," I stammered, moving so he could come in. He entered quietly, his face not changing and he wasn't accusing me of anything or getting angry. He was just silent. "What are you doing here?"

He didn't answer but I really wasn't expecting one. I shut the door behind him, hesitating to turn around. I wasn't afraid of my senior, at least in a physical kind of way but I was afraid that he was mad at me.

"Would you like some tea or something?" I asked. I really hated tea but kept in the house for visitors, not that I had very many. I didn't want to share my grape juice and it was generally polite to keep it in the house. It let me know how long the person was going to stay.

"No," he said in his usual flat voice. "I want to know what happened to you."

Of course that's what the whole visit was about, I wasn't sure why I was so surprised. Probably because he made the effort to come all the way back to my apartment on his own. I hesitated, unsure of my next move. It was one thing to tell the host club, which was full of boys prone to more melodrama than any girl that I'd ever met, but it was another issue entirely to tell Mori. I liked him more than the rest of the guys in the host club. He was sort of normal, which was a big deal considering the group we were in. He didn't really seem that into hosting, seeing as he usually just sat there and smiled. The only one that he talked to Honey and I guessed that his posistion as a host was mostly conditional to being around his cousin.

"Rikku," he pressed, his voice calm but urging me to confide in him.

I looked up at Mori He was standing really close to me, closer than I'd realized. Close enough so I could smell him. He smelled good too. Kinda like Bod Really Ripped Abs and a ting of sweat. It wasn't entirely unexpected of a guy like him.

I gasped and looked back down to hide my sudden embarrassment, becoming interested in my bare feet and bruised legs. Once I gathered my brains, which had been scattered from my apartment and across the ocean to America, I looked back up at him. "Okay," I said seriously, forcing my voice to be steady and strong. It was a lot harder than it seemed. "But if I tell you, you have to pinky promise not to tell anyone."

I held up my pinky. Mori linked his pinky with mine, looking only slightly confused. I loved that he just went with it, rather than asking to many questions. Yet another reason I suddenly found it easier to explain everything to him.

"This pinky promise is legit. Break this pinky promise and I'll break your pinky - promise." I told him seriously, my eyes connecting with his.

"Deal," he agreed, not smirking and the sincerity in his voice matching mine. I had almost been expecting him to not take my pinky promise as seriously as I had but it didn't seem that way. If anything, he was being more serious about it than I was.

I took a big breath, releasing his pinky, letting my hand fall back to my side. I really didn't know where or how to start but once I opened the mouth the words came out, filling him to the brim with the information that he wanted but didn't want to know or accept.


	5. Chapter 5: Falling Victim

**Ah, chapter 5. I hope that everyone likes! Please make sure to**

**REVIEW!**

The club seemed to accept the fact that I wasn't going to fill them in, even if it wasn't by choice. Mori kept his promise but I could sense the change since he knew. He watched me more carefully, as I caught him staring at me many times during the host club hours, and I seemed to run into him more than I used to, which was odd since he was three years older than I was. He and Honey seemed to be waiting around every corner for me, though I was certain Honey wasn't informed of my situation because he didn't tell me and the little Lolita could not keep secrets.

I wasn't fighting every night, which was good and a major plus considering my chaotic schedule at school. Everyone accepted that I was just clumsy, swallowing the lie hook line and sinker, which was more than I originally thought was going to happen. Golden Week was coming soon, a week that I was hoping to mostly sleep through since I'd been many nights sitting up without sleep for one reason or another, and the best part was I didn't have any fights the whole time. I was free to do what ever.

Or so I thought.

I was leaving the school building, thinking of treating myself to a nice dinner out, when the twins caught me by the arms, lifting me off of my feet easily. A limo with blacked out tint windows pulled up in front of us stopping so the last window was even with us. This wasn't good.

"Capture," Hikaru said.  
"Complete," Kaoru said.

The limo window went down revealing Tamaki. I should've known. This was just his style. Kidnapping and I had a feeling that being nabbed like this was the least of my new problems. I didn't even want to know what these morons had planned.

"Good," he said, sounding almost secret agentish as he inspected me over the top of his dark shades. I also took notice of the flowery necklace thingy … what was that called again? A lei? The things that the tropical island people wore. "Let's move."

"Wait. What?" I choked confused but my cries fell on deaf ears as Tamaki rolled up his window and his limo sped off. Another equally as nice limo pulled up and I was tossed into the vehicle the twins jumping in behind me.

"Where are we going? Where are you two taking me?" I demanded. They didn't answer me, simply laughed like creeps the whole ride. I sat on the opposite side of the limo, putting as much space between me and the red heads as possible. It was a good thing that they were my friends and I didn't have any parents to worry about me.

Next thing I knew, we were at the beach, a place that I'd never been to before. The Hitachiins pulled me out of the car and shoved me into a dressing room. I nearly fell on my face, barely catching myself as the door slammed shut.

"Just pick one!" Kaoru called.  
"They're all our mother's latest designs!" Hikaru agreed.

There must have been thirty bathing suits in that room. Their mom must be a busy woman. I looked around and I didn't really make it through all of them before I finally just picked a random one. The only issue was I had a couple of bruises on my stomach and the suit wouldn't cover them.

I picked the one with black short shorts and a matching bikini top. The color contrasted my pale skin totally and really brought out the color of the contusions splotched across my abdomen. The red and purple accents on the garments added nice flair.

"That's a great choice!" The twins gave my selection a thumbs up as I stepped from the changing room, my face redder than I thought was humanly possible. I wasn't exactly the type to got strutting a bikini, mostly because I didn't have the chest for it like other girls but I was skinny.

"Here," Tamaki said shoving a shirt and shorts into my hands. I looked at him confused "It's not appropriate for a girl to wear that in front of a bunch of boys."

I pulled on the extra clothes, a short sleeved red tee shirt that had white writing on it and basic swim trunks that matched and fell to my knees, glad that Tamaki gave them to me. We all walked down the the beach where Mori, Kyoya, and Honey were waiting.

"Ri - chan!" Honey called, laughing. He seemed to be having the time of his life but then again, he was always acting like that.

There were girls down there. I recognized them instantly as guests from the Host Club. Of course Kyoya was going use a vacation as a way to make some cash. Leave it to the Devil Man to ruin my first trip to the beach by making me work for it but I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised because I knew I wasn't paying for this unplanned trip. I didn't have the money.

"Hi Rikku!" my usual guests swooned. I didn't think that there was anything attractive about the way I looked at that moment but apparently they did.

"Hi ladies," I said flashing them my best host club smile. It wasn't their fault that Kyoya was an evil jerk and I wasn't going to take it out on them. I was much too polite for that.

It was a fun day. I didn't swim because I wouldn't go in my clothes. Which was a waste of life but fun all the same.

It was getting close to sunset and I was tired from running around like a moron all day. I was hunting for shells on the edge of the beach, feeling the waves crash up to my ankles all nice and cool and I could smell the salt. Some of the girls were standing on a giant boulder next to me, gazing out at the cherry pink and bloody crimson colors of the sun that was barely dipping underneath the cobalt blue waves.

"Rikku, you should come up here," one of them said gaining my attention. "It's so pretty."

"You need to be careful," I warned them, noticing that they were very close to the edge and it would be along way down to the ocean beneath them, not to mention dangerous. I'd read about rip tides being common around rocks like the one they were standing on. "Don't fall off."

I heard male voices that didn't belong to the host club members, though I couldn't see them from my position on the ground. They actually sounded kinda drunk which wasn't a good sign. One of the girls squealed, causing me to abandon my shells and my search for more. I scrambled up the rock as fast as possible.

I swung at one of the men, barely pausing to assess the situation. There were three of them altogether, each being most likely in their first or second years of college. My fist collided with the man's chin, sending him tripping over himself to the ground and the force nearly sent me to the ground with him. I managed to keep my footing though. One of his friends came from my right side before I had time to react. This one was definitely more sober than his friend. He grabbed me by the shirt, nearly lifting me off of the ground. The girls ran off, calling for help. What helps they were.

"You think you're tough pretty boy?" the guy said backing me toward the edge.

I squeezed his wrists, trying to get free, dragging my bare feet against the rough texture of the rock, hoping to stop him. Someone called my name. My right foot slipped back, catching nothing but air. I pushed against the man's chest but he didn't seem to really notice, that was the thing about drunks. They were almost twice as strong as normal because there wasn't any sense stopping the power.

"Let's see how tough you are, after a swim!" He threw me off, laughing drunkenly. I plummeted down head first.

Splash! I tried to gasp but only got a mouth full of water. I wasn't a strong swimmer and was no match for the swirling ocean green wall that was sucking me in. My vision went dark from lack of air.

Suddenly,I was being carried by someone big and strong. Both of us were dripping wet from our impromptu swim.

"Takeshi, is she okay?" I heard Honey ask over the swishing over water in my ear.

I opened my eyes to see the little boy gazing up at me with big worried eyes. I looked up to see Mori's face grim and serious. "I'm fine Honey-sempai," I said weakly. "You can put me down now Mori-sempai."

He did as I asked, holding my elbow until he was certain that I wasn't going to fall over. I was shaking all over, suddenly very cold.

"What happened?" Tamaki demanded as the twins gave me a fluffy warm dry towel. I instantly wrapped it around myself. "Why did you think you could fight those boys? You're just a girl."

"Trust me," I said giving him a flat look. "If that pansy hadn't thrown me off the boulder I would've been fine. I'm sorry to make you all worry."

Tamaki didn't say anything else, rather, he stared at me meaningfully. I felt Mori shift uncomfortably behind me, his fingers barely grazing my hip, like he was about to pull me out of the way of a bullet or something.

"Look," I said staring down at the ground, pulling the towel even tighter around me. "If there's something that you need to say, say it."

Honey was the one who spoke up, which was a little bit surprising. I'd been expecting Tamaki or Kyoya to speak. They seemed to like criticizing, though their styles were vastly different. "You shouldn't have tried to fight those men, Ri - chan," he said sounding even more like a little kid than usual. "You're not like me and Takeshi. You don't have any training."

"You don't know what you're saying," I told him sharply. I stomped past the host club, heading back up to the house.

I went to my room, not without looking for a while, and showered to get the nasty salt water off of my body. I was seething at the boys' reaction to the situation, it wasn't like I didn't have a good reason to do something so risky and I wasn't hurt nor were the other girls. I wasn't useless. I could handle myself.

I pulled on some clothes, a simple pair of shorts and a tee shirt again.

There was a knock at my door. I answered it, slowly. Just in case I didn't want to talk to them. It was Mori which was more or less okay. He looked down at me, silent for a moment, almost as if he was assessing the situation. Gauging whether or not it was to talk to me.

"Can I come in?" he asked slowly.

"Sure," I said looking down, allowing him to enter. I shut the door behind him but I didn't turn to face him immediately. I wasn't sure if I could.

"That was reckless," he told me, which made me spin around fast to look at him.

"But I couldn't just run for help! There wasn't time and I could fight back better than the other girls could," I explained, my face flushing. It tended to do that around my ginormous sempai. Which was dumb when I thought about it. I had no reason to be embarrassed but I looked away anyhow.

"I know," Mori said. "You did the right thing."

He patted the top of my head lightly. I looked up at him, he wore a slight smirk on his face, my eyes connecting with his.

"Are they all really mad at me, sempai?" I asked. I sounded like a little kid.

"No," he said, shaking his head slightly. "Concerned."

I didn't think I believed him, though he sounded very convincing. I thought he was kind of mad at me too, which I couldn't blame him for since he was the one who saved my life.

"I'm not mad either," he said as if he was reading my mind.

"I don't believe you," I admitted before I could stop myself. It was way easier to talk to Mori than the rest of the guys but even then, I didn't want all of my thoughts just tumbling out of my mouth like that. He probably thought I was stupid.

He held up his pinky, a slight smirk playing across his face. "I'm not mad. Nobody else is either," he told me. "Pinky promise."

I smiled, linking my pinky with his.

**Thanks for reading! Please comment and anxiously await more!**


	6. Chapter 6: You Lie Through Your Teeth

"Listen to me Rikku," Boss said, grabbing me by the shirt and pulling me close to him. "You win this match. Even if it kills you. You do not lose this match!"

"Y-Yes sir," I stammered, slightly shocked by Boss's ferocity. "I-I will."

"You make him regret stepping into that ring tonight."

"Yes sir."

"You better or I'll double your debt. Do you understand me?"

"Yes sir," I said.

"Good."

He pushed me toward the ring and I stumbled in the middle of the crowd. I looked around, not seeing my opponent. Finally, he was pushed into the ring and I was a little surprised. Normally, I didn't fight guys like him.

The guy was roughly my age and nearly my size. Usually, I fought twenty something year old men who were very muscular with big meat heads and ugly mugs. The boy wasn't much taller than me and very skinny with big doe eyes that reminded me of Honey's and probably freshly shaved hair. It had to have been one of his first fights but that didn't mean anything. I'd seen first timers come in like terrorist and demolish everything in their path.

I heard the call for us to begin and for a painstakingly long moment, neither of us moved. Finally, I launched myself at him but he caught me with a solid right hook to the side of my head. I rolled end over end but managed to land on my feet. The boy was on me but I managed to wrap my legs around his waist and flip him over.

I wailed my fists on to his face, hoping to just knock him out. I didn't but I managed to get him very bloodied and a little disoriented before he pushed me off. He pinned me down, using his slightly larger frame to his advantage. He hit me multiple times, hard in the ribs. It felt like my entire body was rupturing underneath the blows.

"WIN THIS RIKKU!" I heard Boss's words and knew I didn't have the option of losing. I didn't have the courtesy of living if I didn't win.

With a lot of effort on my part, I bucked the newcomer off of me. As I pinned him down again, both of us rolling in the coppery liquid that stained the floor crimson. Some of it was his and some of it was the competitors before us. I wasn't bleeding yet and I didn't plan to be but of course I was wrong. As I laid my first hit, my opponent returned fire, landing a solid blow to my nose. I ignored the tears that sprang up in my eyes and violently pounded the boy.

When I felt him stop wiggling underneath me, I pushed myself up to my feet. I could barely stand, my whole world going side ways and I swayed and stumbled a bit.

"Stay down," I slurred, barely audible. My wish fell on either deaf or stupid ears because the boy moved, rocking his head side to side, his eyes flickering open.

"KILL HIM IF YOU MUST! MAKE SURE HE DOESN'T GET UP!"

Orders were orders. It wasn't anything personal. It was survival and my life was worth more than his, at least in my opinion and I was the only one who matter at that moment. I took a step back and with as much force and power as I could muster, I sent my right foot into the side of his head.

There was always a moment that was freakishly surreal when someone died at your hand. Even if I didn't kill the person I was fighting at that moment, I still had the experience of it. It wasn't my first or last time sinking in that darkness. Nothing else is there. No sounds filter in and everything around me faded out around the body of the boy, who was lying motionless at my feet.

Suddenly, there was an impossible amount of pain that gripped at my insides. I choked, coughing up blood. My legs threatened to give way underneath the weight of my body. I held my ribs, flinching at my own touch. I stumbled from the arena, to the waiting doctor and my boss.

"A spectacular win, Rikku," Boss congratulated me.

I sat, leaning heavily against whatever was behind me. Of all the nights that Bo wasn't working the door, it had to be tonight. This wasn't like any pain I'd ever felt and breathing was increasingly painful. There was something really wrong with me but I couldn't tell Boss that. He handed me my money and I was dismissed.

It was a lot longer walk home than I remembered. I couldn't stay up on my feet. I needed a hospital, if only I could remember where it was. I knew it wasn't far and every minute I wasted trying to find it felt like another moment closer to death. That was how I felt. Like I was dying. Like my entire body was filling up with blood, pressing at the walls of my chest. By some miracle, I found the hospital and stumbled into the ER before completely passing out.

When I woke, the doctors explained that I'd sustained some internal damage and nearly died because of it. Though now I was going to be perfectly fine, if not sore for a few days but I was going to live. It was a good thing that I'd shown up when I did.

I also had to speak with the police. It obviously wasn't an accident that hurt me like this. I made up a mugging, describing in detail a homeless man that attacked me, stole my wallet and my groceries. The trick to lying was being specific. The more specific you are, the less likely the police are to disbelieve you.

After they took my statement, I was supposed to be released to go home, with a note excusing me from school for the next two days but instead of a doctor coming through the door, Kyoya entered. I nearly stopped breathing. Did that devil man just stalk me? I couldn't possibly have had luck so bad that I not only landed in one of his families many hospitals but also went to the one he just happened to be at.

"You look a little more than shocked to see me Rikku," he commented, smirking his devil smirk. I turned red and looked away.

"How'd … What are you doing here?" I asked, stumbling over my words.

"My family owns this hospital."

"That doesn't answer my question," I told him.

He smirk grew deeper and he pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. I had a quick moment to wonder why he was always doing that before he started to speak again. "I like to keep tabs on the people around me. I have an order to inform me should anyone in the host club check into one of my families hospitals," he explained in his usual haughty manner. "I knew that it would be only a matter of time, considering how accident prone you are."

"Are you insulting me?"

"Only slightly," he said playfully. "I'm taking you home so lets go."

"Wait," I said. "What's it going to cost me?" I'd spent entirely too much time with Kyoya. I knew that everything that he did had a price. Normally, he'd just add the price to the debt that I already owed to the club but I had a feeling that my unending servitude wasn't his aim this time.

He seemed a little proud that I called him on the price so quickly. Probably thought he was finally rubbing off on me. "I want to know what happened to you. Who did this to you?"

I sighed like a long suffering saint, though I was far from wearing white. "I was walking home after getting some food to eat and I got attacked by some homeless guy. He stole my groceries and my money. Then, I came to this hospital because it was the closest. That's what I told the cops. You can go get the police report if you don't believe me."

Kyoya cocked his head to the side, his glasses catching the florescent light making the lenses flash dangerously. For a moment, we had an intense stare down for a long moment. I wasn't going to cave. I needed him to buy this story. Finally, he broke. "Fine. I'll be sure to keep that in mind. You might want to inform the rest of those idiots why you're not in school before you actually miss or we'll have to close the club early again and beat down your door," he said flatly.

"Noted," I said.

He helped me off of the bed because walking was going to be painful for the next couple of days, which was all well and good. After a fight like the one I'd just had, I wouldn't be up for another one for the next week or so. If we held fights too often, people would catch on and our locations changed a lot. Just because all the cops were no existent didn't mean that the owners could be sloppy.

"You don't have to take me home. I can call a cab," I told him as we made it past the automatic sliding doors.

"Nonsense. That would be irresponsible in your condition," he said calmly. A limo pulled to a stop in front of us. He opened the door and let me take my time in climbing in.

"I'll call them tomorrow. Thank god I left my cell phone at home," I sighed, grinding my teeth together, trying to force myself to find a comfortable way to sit.

"You can use mine," Kyoya offered.

"You're being very nice to me," I said. I almost sounded like I was accusing him of something. I pretty much was, though I wouldn't call him a double dealer or sleever to his face, I knew that he had to have some ulterior motives for being nice to me. He was getting something out of it.

"I'm just helping out a friend."

"You don't just help out friends Kyoya Ootori," I grunted, flatly. "You're up to something. I'm telling you, I was mugged. No more information. Nothing deeper than that. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That kind of stuff happens all of the time in this neighborhood."

He still wasn't completely convinced but he swallowed it, even if I had to force it a little. We made it to my house and said our good nights. I thanked him for helping me out.

"No problem but," he paused before continuing, making sure he had my undivided attention. "The next time you want to go out this late for groceries, don't."

With that, the Devil Man left. I shut the door behind me, his words bouncing around all corners of my brain but not finding the exit whole. I growled in frustration as I picked my cell phone up, calling the first number on my speed dial.

"Sebachi."

"I can't fight," I told him. "Not for the next couple of days at least. That last one nearly killed me. Earned a trip to the emergency room. That punk cause me some internal damage. I can't even go to school for the next two days."

"You got off a lot easier than that other boy did," Boss said. "You kill him with that kick y'know. Hit that soft spot on the temple just right. Very good. Do I need to send some to check on you?"

"That won't be necessary," I refused quickly. "Everything has been taken care of. I promise. I just thought I'd call inform you that I can't fight."

"Responsible. Get better soon, Rikku. Bye."

I hung the phone up and dialed Mori's number but quickly hung up. I didn't know what to tell him. He would instantly know that I was beaten up because of a fight not because of some random mugger. I'd tell him last.

I called the twins and they panicked on me for a full fifteen minutes before I assured them that I was going to be fine. Tamaki took longer to convince. He was wanting to come over and I told him no. Put the brakes on the crazy train before it got out of the station. Then, I called Honey. Honey was worried but after I assured him multiple times that I would be okay and that he could come over both days after club hours to sit and eat cake with me.

Finally, I got to Mori. Every ring sounded like the death bringers gong. I knew that he was going to be upset that I'd gotten hurt and not only lied to Kyoya and the rest of the Hosts but to the police force.

"Rikku?" he grunted. I probably woken him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just, I kinda got beaten up and ended up in the hospital with some internal damage."

"Are you still there?"

"No. Kyoya just happened to be creeping on me so he took me home. The doctors said I'll be clear to go back to school in a couple of days, once I can more around normally without so much pain."

He didn't say anything right away. "It's shouldn't be like this …" he said slowly. "You shouldn't have to deal with this …"

"It's the hand I was dealt. I guess Honey's going to bring over cake to my house after hosting. You should come too. Just so you can see how okay I really am."

"So, you're really okay?" he asked.

"If you where here, I'd pinky promise you," I told him.

There was a knock at my door and I went to answer and nearly dropped the phone in surprise. There was Mori, grinning happily, with his pinky out for me to link mine with it. I smiled goofily, almost not believing the sight I was looking at. He'd came all the way over in his pajamas bottoms, on an unusually cool night, with no shirt. To pinky promise properly with me.

"Cool! Mori-sempai can read minds too!" came Kaoru's voice. "We decided to come over and spend the night with Rikku until she's all better!"

"Me TOO!" came Honey's sweet voice.

"Same here!" Tamaki said.

"I also found it a good idea to tag along," Kyoya commented. I had a feeling that he sparked this little take over and let Tamaki enforce it the way he usually did. I glared at him. Then I started laughing.

"I don't have enough room for all of you guys, you know that?"

"That's why we brought sleeping bags!" the twins announced. "One for each of us and one for you Rikku! We cold make it an indoor camping trip!"

I looked at Mori and started laughing. Even he cracked a smile. As everyone poured past us, claiming different places as theirs and exploring my small apartment, mostly amazed by the small part, I felt Mori's pinky link with mine.

"I'm really okay," I promised him.

"You know what happens if you break this pinky promise?"

"You can break my pinky, promise."

For that moment, it was easy to pretend that nothing else in the world mattered. I had people who loved me, no matter how hard I denied it, I did love them back. I just knew that the innocence wouldn't last long but I could on to it for that one night until faded from my finger forever.


	7. Chapter 7: Set Me Free

**Hey! So, I hoped everyone like the last chapter! I would love more reviews!  
So please make sure to leave one!**

The two days flew by quickly, especially with the Host Club coming over every night. They only stayed over that first night but they came over to hang out. I thought that everything was going to be okay. That it was going to stay like that forever but it didn't. I healed up and went back to fighting.

And, my friends went back to wondering what I did with my life. Naturally, curiosity got the best of them.

-Kyoya-

My phone was hot against my face as I pressed it harder and harder to my skin, like that was going to make sense out of what I was being told. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Though, it all really added up, I still couldn't believe it. I didn't want to believe it but, the truth was the truth and there was no changing the facts.

"Thank you," I told the man on the other end of the line. My voice was stiff and robotic, which was odd for me. "Goodbye."

I clicked the phone shut, gripping it as tightly as I could between my fingers. My teeth ground together as I struggled to comprehend the injustice of this world. _What... how did Rikku get involved in something like that? She's just a kid._

__I might not have known just yet what her reasons for being involved in something like that, but I was going to find out. Before something really bad happened.

I hoped.

-Rikku-

_Another rough night, _I thought as I struggled to pull off my tee shirt. My muscles burned in protest of the movement but I pushed through it.

I pulled on my silken shirt, enjoying the way that the cool smoothness felt on my injuries. I buttoned it up and tied my tie. Then, I pulled on my dress pants and jacket. I really hated the uniforms but the boys uniform was a hundred times better than the girls.

I carefully pulled on my shoes, formal loafers of course, and walked to school. It was a long walk but it was nice, during the day at least. I really didn't like being out on the streets of my neighborhood at night, though I regularly was. I was limping slightly as I walked.

_I can't keep this up much longer. Something has to give. I just hope that something isn't me. I should've almost paid Boss off_.

As usual, I was greeted by the twins in their vice like cocoon hugs. I'd gotten so used to it that I didn't even yelp anymore. After the twins got done sticking to me, we'd trump off to class. After school, we'd head off to the host club. Yep, just a normal day. It was so normal that I should've known that something was up. No day should ever go that well.

"Ri-chan!" Honey greeted me happily with a tackle hug, half shoving his bunny doll in my face. "How was your day?"

"Great Honey - sempai," I said smiling at him. I was short enough that Honey could stand on the floor while he hugged me, unlike everyone else. "Hello Mori–sempai."

He nodded at me,with a slight smirk. I had to look away to hide the growing blush, splashing bright red and pink across my face. Yeah, I was totally crushing on my sempai. It was a classic situation, which made me want to throw up. It wasn't one of those girls. I didn't want to swoon over any of the host club guys. I was too different from them and I didn't want anyone, especially Mori, tangled up in my mess.

As the guests arrived, we all took our places. I entertained like usual, laughing and smiling and complimenting the girls. They swooned, which was embarrassing at first but I was more used to it now. After the guests left, I cleaned up the club room because that was part of my deal to pay off the Host Club. It wasn't hard. The biggest job was always washing Honey's cake dishes, which was always a monumental stack.

Usually, the guys just left but this time, they hung back. That instantly made me suspicious but I tried to act like it was a normal thing.

"Rikku," Kyoya said finally, after we'd all hung in that dreadfully awkward silence for entirely too long. "We need to talk to you."

"Um, okay?" I said cautiously, putting the stack of plates back down on the table. I straightened up, my entire body rigid. "What's wrong?"

All of them looked at me seriously, their faces all matching views of seriousness and worry. My eyes connected with Mori's, pleading with him to give me a hint as to what was going on. He didn't seem to be aware of the point of this meeting but I couldn't really be sure.

"I hope you won't take offense when I tell you that I've been having the Ootori private police tail you for the last week," Kyoya said, straight up as always. I couldn't believe that he thought that I wouldn't take offense to that.

"How could I not take offense to that, Kyoya - sempai?" I cried my eyes flashing with anger. I really wasn't a vocal or violent person, though someone who saw me in the ring would argue that fact. I didn't like it but I would do it if I had to. "What - why is it any of your business what I do?"

"We all kinda convinced him to do it,"Hikaru said, rubbing the back of his head guiltily.

"We were really worried," Kaoru agreed, making the same motion as his twin.

"I don't care! What I do with my life is my business!" I snarled at them. My heart was pounding in my ears and I didn't like being so mean, especially to my friends.

"We're your friends," Honey said.

"It's still not your business," I snapped, my heart dropping when Honey flinched away at the harshness of my voice. I had to look away from the small boy.

"But you can't keep secrets from your beloved daddy can you?" Tamaki said, attaching him self to me. I was smothering underneath his hold.

"You're not my dad," I told him flatly, trying to shrug him off.

He released me and went to his dark little corner where he was ripping paper, letting it pile up around his feet and body.

"Stop making a mess that I'm going to have to clean up!" I yelled at him.

"I'm not making a mess," he said, sticking his bottom lip out to pout. "I'm making a hamster home."

"You don't have a hamster!" I objected.

"That's enough," Kyoya said forcefully, adjusting his glasses up his nose. "Don't you want to know what information that my investigation uncovered?" He raised an eyebrow at me, giving me a look.

"Enlighten me," I requested, crossing my arms over my chest. I already knew what he'd uncovered and I started shaking a little. I pressed my hands into my sides to disguise it.

"We found that you are involved in an illegal underground fighting circuit," he told me, matter of fact. I knew that he was enjoying having the upper hand again. "We all know that you lack in fighting ability so the real question is why?"

I numbly made my way over to the couches that we used to host and sat down. I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, putting my face in my hands. I took a big breath to calm my nerves, dragging my fingers down my face as I looked up. "When I was little, I was really sick. There was – is – something wrong with my lungs. I can't breathe right. My parents didn't have a lot of money so we couldn't afford the doctor bills and it was going to kill me. So, my dad struck up a deal with Boss Sebachi. He paid the doctor bills so I could get the medication and treatments that I needed, and Dad promised to pay Boss back...  
"My parents were killed in a car crash when I was six. I didn't have anybody else so I lived in a foster home for a while, until I was eleven. Boss found me after that. He wanted me to pay off the debt … since it was mine after all. So, I went to work for him. I'm mostly a bait fighter, especially at first."

"What's that?" Honey asked, his big eyes staring even with me.

"They throw me in to fight against better fighters, bigger ones. Ones that will make them more money because they can put on a better show than me. I'm there to lose. That's why I get hurt so badly because most of the time, those thugs don't know when to stop. Sometimes, I'm allowed to win, just to shake it up. That's pretty much the whole story."

There was a silence. It hung in the air, pressing on me, threatening to crush me under the weight of it. I wanted to run but my body wouldn't respond to my brain's commands. I knew that they wouldn't be able to handle it. I felt like crying because I felt so trapped.

"How much?' Tamaki asked. I hadn't noticed him leave his hamster home. He was now standing in front of me, his violet eyes resting on me.

"Huh?" I blinked, slightly taken aback and confused by his question.

He bent low, putting his hands on my shoulders. He didn't rest his entire weight on me but he was firm. "How much was the debt?"

"I - I don't know," I stammered, unable to keep eye contact with him. Heat rose up in my face. There wasn't anywhere I could look without meeting the sad pleading eyes of a host club member.. "I've almost have it paid off. Just a few more big fights and I'll be... I'll have it paid off."

Tamaki regained my attention. "I'll pay it," he said. He didn't sound like he was making an offer, more like he was ordering me to accept it. "You don't need to be doing this. It's not right."

"No!" I cried, smacking his hands away. "I can take care of myself! I'm okay! I promise!"

"No," Tamaki insisted.

I jumped to my feet, pushing him back, causing him to trip over his own feet and land hard on his rear. He gazed up at me, amazement and shock written all over his features. The entire club wore the same expression.

"I'm fine on my own! I don't need your help and I'm not asking for it! I'm fine!" I insisted angrily.

I ran out of the room and down the hall. Someone was following me and I tried to speed up, urging my legs to carry me away faster but the person following was much taller and faster than me. They reached out and grabbed me by the arm, causing me to yelp, more in shock rather than pain.

I almost fell, easily losing my balance, but the boy stopped me, pressing me tightly against his warm body, holding the both of us easily.

"M-Mori-sempai?" I stammered, flushing super red and looking up at him, having to strain a little since he was so much taller and I was a lot shorter than he was.

"It doesn't have to be this way," he told me, his voice tight and pleading. His eyes were begging me, ripping at my heart strings, trying to get me to stay. "You can come out of this. Just let me help."

"I'm sorry, Mori-sempai," I said, pushing him away with both hands. I stared down at my feet, unable to look in those sorrowful understanding and forgiving eyes, while I continued to speak quietly. "But, I have to do this on my own."

I turned away, tears clawing their way from the corners of my eyes and took off running. He just stood there, watching me run.

"You're late," Boss said, looking at me with disapproval, his customary cigar hanging from his lips. "You have to lose this fight and lose it good."

_It doesn't have to be this way._ Mori's words rung in my ears, pounding against my subconsciousness. He was right and I was wrong but that was something that I already knew. What was keeping me fighting for the man in front of me anyway? It didn't really make any sense.

"Rikku," he growled, grabbing my arm, holding it too tightly, and shaking me. I couldn't look up at him, just another part of my cowardice showing through but I wasn't going to let him bully me anymore.

"No," I said quietly, slightly surprised that I even managed to say the word out loud.

"What?" Boss Sebachi gasped, apparently as surprised as I was.

"NO!" I screamed, finally looking up at him. Determined scared tears were caught in my eye lashes but I wasn't going to let him see them fall. He'd already caused me enough problems. "I won't do this anymore! I know I've paid my debt! I'm done!"

I turned and ran out of the building, an act that I seemed to be doing a lot lately. I kept running and running, not sure of where I was going for a while. In hindsight, I should've just went straight home but I thought that the host club might be there to corner me into talking. Even though I had taken their advice, I just wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, especially those hysterical idiots.

I walked the deserted dark streets, the only light coming from the flickering street lights,keeping my eyes glued to the ground. I didn't have any idea what was going to happen to me. I was just going to trust that I'd made the right choice, which at that point was the only thing I could do.

But, like with every choice, right or not, you had to pay the price … and I was about to have to pay all my debts.


	8. Chapter 8: Crossing The Rubicon

**How many of you have cried? I cried writing this.  
I apologize to those who have shed tears but, it was intentional on my part.  
I wanted to create a tear jerker. And it only gets worse.  
**

**YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!**

**MAKE SURE TO REVIEW!**

It was really too early for phone calls and I was really surprised when I heard my cell phone ringing. Even more so when I realized that it was Kyoya's ring tone coming out of the mobile device. I was up doing some morning Kendo training but I didn't know why anyone else would be up at such an hour. Even my cousin was still asleep. I quickly found out.

The next thing I knew my world was crashing in around my ears, cutting off all feeling and understanding. Nothing was clicking in my head as my cousin and I sped off to the hospital in our limo. We ran in as fast as possible, pushing people out of the way, not caring who or what they were doing. Only Kyoya was there, since he was the first informed but the rest of the host club was right on our heels. Literally.

"What happened?" Tamaki demanded, slamming to a stop, bumming into me lightly.

He looked as scattered as the rest of us, his hair wild and unbrushed, sleep still hanging on his eye lids. Even Kyoya was visibly shaken, looking like he's just rolled out of bed, also like he'd been sleeping in normal clothes from the state of the wrinkly mess of his shirt. Mitskuni was barely even awake, leaning against me, rubbing his eyes.

"I'm not sure," Kyoya admitted, adjusting his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I got a report of Rikku being in critical condition here at the hospital. I didn't wait for another word, but I highly doubt, from what I've gathered, that they knew much else."

We all fiddled silently for a moment, right there in the middle of the lobby. Nobody really knew what was going on. Which was scarey. What was even worse was that nobody knew how to deal with this, whatever this was. It was a miserable feeling, pulling at my heart and my stomach was resting my feet.

Finally, a nurse hustled us to a private waiting room, telling us that we'd have to wait like everyone else. Just not in the middle of the lobby. She'd tell the doctor where we were.

"Um," a doctor said, appearing in the doorway of the private waiting room. We had to have been sitting there for a couple of hours. The sun was well into the sky already. "Which of you is Mr. Ootori?"

Kyoya went over to talk to the doctor, his walk was stiff and grim. All of us rose to our feet at the same time, like standing would help us hear or make this nightmare go away. It wouldn't. This was really happening, no matter how much I wanted to deny it.

"Takeshi," Mitskuni said, his arms wrapped tightly around Usa – chan. I looked down at him, seeing only the top of his head but I imagined the way his whole face looked. "Is Rikku going to be okay?"

Again, I really hated lying and in this case, anything I said could end up being a lie. "I-I don't know," I admitted, slightly struggling to speak.

Kyoya walked back over to us. He didn't look like he had good news. Mitskuni moved closer to me, searching for the familiar comfort that he always found in me. I wasn't sure if he could find it because for once, I was probably more scared than he was.

Kyoya hesitated before saying anything, nipping his bottom lip lightly. He never hesitated. He never had to dig for words. My heart nearly stopped beating, I was partly surprised that I was still alive and I didn't even know that bad news yet and the longer I had to wait, the worse it became in my mind. It had to be really bad for him to have to take so much prep time.

"She's in bad shape," he said finally, letting out the word on a big breath that he'd been holing for about thirty seconds. "They... they honestly don't think that she'll make it through the night."

My heart did stop, my breathing getting stuck in my throat. The twins grabbed each other. All the color drained from Tamaki's face. Mitskuni clenched onto my leg. I felt like fainting, my entire body felt like nothing. Like it wasn't even real. Like I was in some sort of night mare and desperately needed to wake up.

"She was brought in by the ambulance," Kyoya continued, placing his words carefully like they were made of porcelain. "She... It looks like someone tried to disembowel Rikku. They cut her abdomen up really bad and they had to shove it all back in. They beat her almost to death. There's a lot of damage, broken bones and stitches, and she lost a lot of blood."

I felt like someone was disemboweling me. It hit me to the core that Rikku could not wake up. That she was going to be taken away from me forever and there was nothing that I could do.

"What can we do?" Tamaki asked, his voice cracking a squeaking.

"Wait," he responded. "They can't let anyone in to see here. She's going back into surgery in a few minutes. Like I said there's a lot of damage. Who ever did this to her... they were trying to kill her."

I felt like collapsing. Right there in front of god and everybody. I didn't care. Who was demented enough to do this to Rikku? She was a little angel. Always trying to fight for herself and taking on her own battles and never once complaining about. No one seemed real sure of how to react.

_Who would do this to her? When I find them I'm going to rip them apart limb from limb. I'm going to really rip someone's insides out and hang them with it and paint the town in their blood. I will get vengeance for this. They just better hope I don't find them. _

__There was nothing left for us to do but wait. So everyone took a seat. the twins hugged each other crying. Mitskuni curled up in my lap and sobbed. Tamaki leaned forward and sobbed. Even Kyoya seemed close to crying.

_This wasn't supposed to happen... I should've followed her.. I shouldn't have let her go last night. I should've..._

__There was a million things that I should've done. I knew that I could've prevented this somehow but I knew that it wasn't ever going to happen again. It couldn't happen if she was dead. If she died … I would to but not before taking care of business.

The constant even ticking of the clock was making me nervous. Every tick reminded me that Rikku was that much closer to saying good bye to me forever. It made me twitch, my eyes flashing over to the door,every time I sensed movement.

Finally, a doctor came into the waiting room, his long white lab coat falling a few inches from the floor. He had a grim face, set in stone like Michelangelo himself had chiseled it. My heart beat skipped and sped up to an alarming rate. We'd been sitting there for nearly eight hours, with no news of any kind so it seemed more like an eternity. No one had left to eat or drink. None of us had really moved. All of us were pretty much catatonic.

Kyoya got up to speak with the doctor. They spoke for a long while, Kyoya shaking his head while the doctor prattled on with a sympathetic look. When he returned, he didn't look happy, relieved, or optimistic.

"She's out of surgery," he sighed. "And back in ICU... There's nothing to really do but wait and pray. She's in a coma..."

"Can we see her?" Mitskuni squeaked from beside me.

"Two at a time," he said. "Even I can't pull enough strings to get us all in there."

Kyoya and Tamaki went to see her first, mainly so Kyoya could look over everything and make sure that she was getting the best care his money could by. Then the twins and finally Mitskuni and I went in. It was almost too much for me to be in there. Even the smell was hard to take.

You couldn't really see Rikku. There were too many bandages, tubes, and bruises. Her face was swollen and bruised. I paused by the door, my rooting to the spot instantly. My breathing was shallow and I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to look but I couldn't look away, like a car crash.

Mitskuni walked around one side of the bed and grabbed her hand, looking back at me meaningfully. I went to the other side and took her other hand, what little of it I could grab, most of it being covered by tape and wires. She always had looked small and fragile to me but now... she was almost unimaginably breakable. I was almost afraid to touch her, being so much bigger. I was afraid the slightest touch might shatter her. If she wasn't shattered all ready.

"Hey Ri - chan," Mitskuni said quietly, his voice way steadier than mine would've been. I could feel a lump expanding in my throat. "You need to be okay, alright? We'd really miss you. You have to get better really fast. Right Takeshi?"

I nodded, barely tightening my grip on Rikku's hand. "Right," I agreed, nodding my head slightly.

Mitskuni looked up at me, his big eyes full of tears but he quickly wiped them away with his arm. "Hey Takeshi? Can you sit with her a minute by yourself? I have to go to the bathroom." His voice had now begun to crack and waver.

I nodded for him to go. He slipped out of the door, shutting it behind him with a soft click. Even though the sound was barely audible, I flinched like it was loud. Every sound seemed to loud. I waited until I couldn't hear his footsteps anymore before speaking.

"Rikku," I said carefully, testing out her name on my lips. It seemed okay so I cautiously continued. "Please. Don't die... I... I need you... the whole Host Club needs you... Especially me."

I lifted her hand as carefully as possible and kissed the back of it, letting it go back to resting on the bed afterwords. It was almost too much. I felt sick, like someone was kicking me in the stomach. Even though I'd barely known the small girl for three or four months, it seemed like forever. I couldn't imagine my life without her in it, without that smile, without her caring. This wasn't how it was supposed to end. It couldn't end like this.

The door opened and Mitskuni stuck his head in. "Kyo-chan needs us," he informed me quietly.

I rose to my feet and left, giving one last look at the girl lying in the hospital bed.

It was decided that someone would stay with Rikku at all times, just so that she wouldn't wake up alone. Kyoya managed to get us that permission. We'd do it in shifts, taking turns missing days of school to be with her. I never wanted to leave. Afraid something might happen while I was gone. I wouldn't be able to live if she died, which was extremely likely.

No one had the heart to host and the host club was closed until which point Rikku was better. The days drug by at a painstakingly slow pace. Finally, a week and a half had passed and she still wasn't awake and she hadn't shown much improvement.

"The fact that she survived this long leads us to believe that she may pull through this," one of the doctors said, though I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or just trying to make all of us feel better.

I really hoped that was the case. I desperately needed Rikku to pull through. I couldn't sleep without being plagued by nightmares in which she died, therefore, I was avoiding sleep as much as possible. Eating was hard. I didn't have the desire but nobody else seemed to either. Not even my cousin.

It was mine and Mitskuni's night to stay at the hospital. We wouldn't be attending school the next day either. No sounds came from either of us as we sat there. The only noise being the steady beep from Rikku's heart monitor and other machines that she was attached to. I took all the mechanical beeps and pings as another sign that Rikku wasn't dead yet. I kept holding my breath for the next little sound.

"Takeshi," my cousin said, suddenly breaking the infinite silence, his face was still grim and rested on the edge of the bed. "Do you think that Rikku would like a present? Maybe a bunny like Usa – chan?"

"Ah," I nodded. It was just to distract him, I knew that. We all needed distractions.

His face lit up for the first time since Rikku's accident and she straightened up in his seat. The boy hadn't even been able to eat the cake that he loved so much. He'd just picked at it. I was worried about him. He'd been so complaisant and just numb as of late, thought I guess I wasn't much better.

"I'm going to the gift shop okay? You stay here with Rikku!" he said bouncing to his feet. 'I'll be right back!"

He bolted out, letting the door close on it's own. Again, I waited until I couldn't hear his foot steps anymore, before speaking to her.

"Rikku," I said, looking at her, brushing some hair back out of her face. "Everyone really needs you to come back to us. Tamaki can't even pretend to host. Kyoya can't be himself. The twins are impossible. Mitskuni can't eat cake... And I... I can barely breathe. I feel like my arm has been chopped off... Please... come back."

My hand twitched tighter around hers. Mitskuni came back in. He had Usa-chan in one hand and another rabbit that resembled it in the other. Unlike Usa-chan, it was black instead of pink, which I supposed, fit Rikku a bit better than a pink one would've.

"Look!" he declared proudly, holding it up for the whole world to see. "It kinda looks like Usa - chan! I thought that Rikku might like it."

He pranced over, placing it in between her and her arm, like she was holding it.

"Maybe this will make her better faster," he said, his eyes gleaming with slight optimism. "Do you think so Takeshi?'

"Maybe." I told him. I wanted to believe it as much as he did.

-Kyoya-

It was becoming increasingly difficult to come to the hospital. Everyday I went to sit with Rikku, it just got harder. I might not have been the most apt to show my emotions but that didn't make me heartless.

Even I knew that Rikku didn't deserve this. I'd set my police force to finding Boss Sebachi and anyone who may have been involved in this heinous crime. So far, nothing, which was frustrating. I didn't enjoy the feeling of being helpless.

"Rikku," I said as I sat in that brutally uncomfortable chair that was placed next to her bed. "I don't know if you can hear me but, it would be delightful if you would wake up and be okay. We need you back at the host club."

Of course, my pleas were met with drowning silence that reverberated on my eardrums, making them ring painfully. I sighed, sitting back, reopening the book that I'd begun reading aloud, if only to fill up the empty space left by the absence of speech.

-Tamaki- 

Sitting in that room … Listening to the sounds … Or lack of them … It was slowly driving me insane and I knew I wasn't the only one but it was worth it. I also knew that I wasn't the only one who thought so.

After the first few days, I'd run out of things to talk to her about. Nobody was hosting and school was mostly a daze to me. I couldn't behave normally. My mind wasn't even buzzing around at speeds to fast for anyone else to keep up with. Kyoya had suggested that we read to her.

I wasn't one for reading though. I would much rather play music but I couldn't convince Kyoya to move in a grand piano for me to play on. Since he wouldn't comply, I decided to go with the reading thing. I knew that Rikku liked to read but she didn't do it often. I figured that she'd have more time to read now, once she woke up and was released from the hospital.

Still, I sat, struggling to find a comfortable way to sit in that horrible chair, with a book propped open on my knee. It was my favorite, though I had the copy written in French. I was reading it aloud in French too, because the words sounded odd coming out of my mouth in a different language than what was written. At least, until I got to a good line and I wanted to really let Rikku hear it.

" 'I am haunted by humans.'" I quoted the final line of the Book Thief by Markus Zusak in Japanese, closing the book with a soft thump. It was probably wildly inappropriate to read a book about the Holocaust, in Death's point of view to someone in ICU that was borderlining on a visit from the narrator but it was my favorite. "I thought that was an interesting book. Didn't you Rikku? Though, I guess you couldn't understand me for the most part. I tend to speak very quickly in French. It was my first language. Japanese was my second language."

I didn't receive a response but I smiled like I had, if only to comfort myself. I held onto Rikku's hand and closed my eyes, like I was praying for my friend.

"Please, don't die. Wake up. For me. For Kyoya, Mori-sempai, and the rest of the Host Club. I don't know how they'll deal without you."

-Kaoru-

Some times, life just sucked. That I knew. So did my twin but we thought that bad things only happened to bad people At least, that was how it should've worked. Rikku didn't deserve this. She was one of the nicest people ever, and the first real friend that Hikaru and I had.

We tried not to think about it, but we both wondered what would happen to us if she died.

"Kaoru," Hikaru said, listlessly from his seat opposite me. "When Rikku gets better, I think we should make her a nice outfit to wear home."

I was glad that he was being so optimistic about this. "Yeah but we have to make it easy for her to move in," I said thoughtfully.

"In green," he said, his golden eyes that matched mine lighting up brightly. "To match her eyes."

My eyes mirrored his. "Yeah. With elbow length sleeves and fitted sides, to be comfortable."

We planned for the rest of the night. We hadn't ever really designed everyday clothes, much less for someone to wear while injured when comfort was key, and kept having to ask Rikku and the nurses for their opinions. Finally, we got everything sorted out. We were going to start once we went home, not knowing when Rikku was going to finally wake up.

Hikaru fell asleep before I did, somewhere around three thirty in the morning, laying stretched out in the cot that the staff had supplied us with. I was having a little more difficulty sleeping than my twin. I slouched in the straight backed chair, twiddling my fingers, zoned out to the beat of Rikku's beeping monitors. I cocked my head back, looking at the form in the bed, a breathing tube obscuring most of my view of her face.

"If not for me, then for Hikaru," I told her. "Please wake up."

**This was a very long chapter and I worked on it painstakingly. I hope you all enjoy! Please make sure to review it for me.**


	9. Chapter 9: Home Coming?

**Ugh. That last chapter was depressing. Grr.  
Frustrating too. I hated it.  
Hopefully, it will get better. With a LOT more action.  
Please bare with me.  
(I hope that's the right bare. Please make fun of me if it's not.)  
Oh, I'm also not a doctor so most of this might not be … medically correct.  
Forgive me for that injustice.  
Thank you!  
Review!**

I wasn't sure what was going on... where I was... I knew I was supposed to be in pain but I wasn't... Maybe I was dead … I could only hear and smell things at first. I smelled a sticky sort of stink that wouldn't leave my nostrils and I didn't like it. Sounds filtered in and I didn't understand them. Beeps, steady and strong.

After a little while, I started feeling things … sort of. Something was sticking to my chest and it felt a little weird and my stomach, felt like it wanted to split into two different directions but it didn't hurt. It was just odd. Something was on my face, making it itch a little. I wanted to pull it off but for what ever reason, my arms weren't responding like I wanted.

I wanted my eyes to open. It was a lot harder than it used to be. I couldn't remember what happened. Suddenly, all the memories washed over me like a flood and my eyes opened on their own accord, only to be hit by the punishing white light. I grimaced.

I heard a gasp. "Takeshi," I recognized Honey's voice. He sounded so amazed. If he was here then that meant …

"Mori," I rasped out. My throat felt like it was made of sandpaper. It felt weird to talk, like I hadn't said anything for a long time. "Mori … sempai?" I forced my eyes open a little more, risking the burning sensation that I instantly received. I saw him leaning over to look at me, his dark eyes serious and relieved.

"Ri-chan?' Honey said, his voice still holding the same childish amazement as a toddler on Christmas day. "Ri-chan are you awake?"

"Yeah," I said, rolling my head to face him. He was really close to me and really loud in my ear. "You're kind of loud, Honey-sempai." 

I struggled to lift my body up. I could feel pulling and stretching in all the oddest places. I considered that after what had happened to me it was perfectly normal. Mori helped me sit up a little more, pressing the button to raise the bed a little more to properly support me. 

"Look what I got you, Ri-chan!" Honey declared proudly, shoving a little black bunny in my hands. It looked just like Usa except for the obvious color difference. "I named her Hime! That means princess!"

I started to explain to him that hime was a title, like a real princess and that if he wanted to name the bunny princess Yuki would work better but I didn't want to squash his obvious enthusiasm. Rather, I smiled and accepted it. It felt nice and soft in my hand, which were bandaged up stiffly, with tape around the knuckles.

"I'm going to get a doctor," Honey proclaimed, dropping on his feet to the floor, before bolting right out of the door. I smiled at the closing door.

"How are you feeling?" Mori asked, after Honey was long gone. I looked up at him, giving him a guilty smile. He didn't have his usual flat, board expression that he always wore on. He looked sincerely relieved and happy.

"I'm sorry … If I sacred you," I said quietly, unable to keep eye contact with him too long.

"Two weeks," he said, simply. He reached out and took my hand, which shocked me a little. With his free hand he turned my face carefully to face his.

"Please," he said with sincerity in eyes and voice. He was practically pleading and it made me hurt inside. "Don't do something like that again. I know it wasn't on purpose but there are times when you do need help. You should've told us. Me especially … I would've done everything in my power. -"

He was interrupted by the doctors rushing in and he was shooed away. After the doctors explained everything that was wrong with me, which was about what I thought it was, and checked to make sure that I was sort of okay, they let him and the rest of the Host Club back in, all of which had shown up. Honey called them.

"Are you in any pain?" Kyoya asked, scribbling notes down in his Book Of Demon Knowledge.

"They've got me on a lot of morphine. I can't feel anything right now," I reassured him. It was for the most part true. I couldn't really feel any pain, just pulling and the dull sensation that there was something hold my skin together.

"Do you remember what happened?"

_Of course, he's the one who asked. I wonder if he's using the Ootori Police to find out who did this. I hope not. That will cause a mess that no one will want to clean up._

__"Um," I said, looking down at the bunny. I wasn't sure how I was going to explain it and it wasn't exactly something I wanted to relieve. "I... I'd just left the building. I told Boss that I'd quit and I knew I'd paid off my debt. I was going home..." The memory flashed in my head and I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting off the vivid flash backs, "No. I wasn't going home... I wasn't going... anywhere. I was just walking. I don't really remember much after that. A van pulled up beside me maybe …? They stopped, grabbed me, and put a bag over my head … I woke up on a table …"

The memories were painful and they scared me as, despite my best efforts, the images flashed through my head. I wished that I thought in words and not in pictures. Tears welled up in my eyes and I started shaking a little. I could remember the feeling of the knife slicing my skin open. The blood. Them hitting me. It was all rushing in on me at once. I squeezed my rabbit tighter in my hands.

"That's enough," Mori said forcefully.

I wanted to curl up in a little ball and cry, protect myself from my memories, but the doctors told me to lay flat. I didn't want to rip open any stitches. I felt Mori take my hand, a small but comforting gesture.

"Well, while you were out," Hikaru said. "Kaoru and I designed your going home outfit."

"It'll be comfortable enough for you to where when you go home," Kaoru agreed.

"It won't be anything crazy will it?" I asked my face instantly turning red. The morphine apparently shut down all of my sense to not blurt out my inner thoughts. I was going to have to be more careful.

"I wish we could hug you!" Kaoru cried.  
"You're so cute!" Hikaru agreed.

"Please don't hug me," I said flatly, again, there was no filter stopping the words from escaping my lips. Then I yawned, having the urge to stretch with it but I didn't because that would spell disaster. It was amazing how much being asleep in a coma for a week and a half could take out of you. It also may have been the morphine making me so tired.

"Come along everybody," Kyoya said, attempting to hustle every one out. He was pulling Tamaki by the ear and the twins by their shirts. It was kind of humorous to see him acting like that but I didn't laugh, rather, I simply cracked a smile. "Rikku needs her rest. We'll come back tomorrow. Good bye Rikku."

They all said their goodbyes, Tamaki's sounding rather pained. Only Honey and Mori remained in the room with me and they didn't appear to be going anywhere soon. Honey didn't even have shoes on.

"Honey - sempai, Mori - sempai," I said confused, tilting my head to the side a little. That was about the only movement that didn't feel weird to make. "Aren't you going home?"

"No. It's our turn to stay the night," Honey explained like it was the most normal thing in the entire world. He sat up on the side of the bed, his big eyes glued to me. "We didn't want you to have to be alone."

I smiled, turning slightly red. I loved my friends. They didn't have to half of what they did, especially after I'd kept so many important secrets from them but they still went out of their way to make sure I was happy. "So you've done this for almost two weeks. just taking turns sitting around watching me sleep?" I asked, my voice a little unsure and wavering. I wanted to cry I was so happy.

"Uh huh," he nodded. Then he leaned close to me, his face level and almost touching mine. I pulled away a little, uncomfortable with the closeness. "Takeshi never wanted to leave," he whispered, holding his index finger over his lips.

I fought a smile as a darker blush washed over my face and glanced at the mysterious older boy in the chair beside my bed. He raised an eyebrow at me, probably wondering what his cousin had just said and I looked away.

"Mitskuni," he said slowly. "Bed time."

Honey puffed his cheeks out and so did I, though I was really tired. I wanted to know more about what the host club members did while they just sat around with me. Mori stared back at us evenly. Finally, Honey hopped off the bed and grabbed his back pack.

"Don't go to sleep until I get back, Ri-chan!" Honey requested. "I wanna tell you good night when you're able to say it back!"

I gave a small laugh. "Okay." I promised him.

He pranced out, leaving me once again with Mori. I could feel his eyes on me but I didn't know if I could look and not turn red, which made me even more embarrassed. Finally, I relented and looked at him.

"Thank you, Mori-sempai," I said awkwardly.

He reached out, taking my hand in his. "Anytime."

Another week went by before they let me leave the hospital under super strict instructions, warning me that if I didn't follow them completely, I'd have to go back and be in far worse pain, which was something I didn't want. I wasn't to move around a whole lot, keeping walking to a minimum and no housework, such as laundry or cooking, at all. Someone needed to be with me at all times, just in case I fell going to the bathroom or something. I wasn't going to be able to get back up. I had to make sure to take my medicine, to keep down any swelling, keep my immune system up, and keep the pain away. I also had medicine to help me sleep.

Mori carried me into my apartment because going up the stairs was a major no like I was a baby. I was beyond red in the face, being so close to him, I could feel his chest muscles, like I had the day he saved me from drowning. He was pretty used to carrying Honey, who was about my size, maybe a little bigger, so I probably wasn't anything for him to carry.

"Welcome home, Rikku-san," my landlady said once I'd been placed on my own two feet. I was on enough pain medicine to make it not hurt but I would feel it as soon as they wore off. "I was so worried about you."

My landlady was a single middle aged woman. She'd always done a fairly good job of looking after me, cooking me dinner every Wednesday since I'd moved in, and being very lenient with my rent date. It wasn't a surprise that she'd come to check on me, especially after I didn't make it to Wednesday dinner two weeks in a row.

"Thank you," I told her, smiling. "The doctors said I'll make a full recovery but it's going to take a while. I have do some physical therapy to get my muscles a bit stronger still."

The woman leaned closer to me, a playful grin spreading across her face. "I doubt you have to worry about anything with all of these nice young men here with you. They seem to be really worried about you," she whispered.

_She doesn't realize that they're more of a hindrance than a help usually, __I thought, glancing around at my friends. _"They are but they're idiots," I told her, shaking my head a little.

"Well, I wish I had friends like these growing up," she said her face just lighting up. She looked past me and I turned to see what or rather who she was looking at so intensely. It was Mori. "Especially the tall one with the dark hair. He looks like he's in love with you."

My face turned red, even though he hadn't heard her or caught my stare, and I turned back away rather quickly and became interested with my toes. They had green nail polish on them because apparently the twins had gotten bored when they came to sit with me one day. Why they just happened to have nail polish on them, I didn't question and didn't want to figure out. I woke up as they were finishing my last couple toes so I just let them go.

"Well, I hope you get better soon. If you need anything just call," she said heading for the door.

_My landlady has lost her ever loving mind, _I thought, shaking my head.

"Rikku," Kyoya said, gaining my attention. I looked up at him. "I don't think that you need to be on your feet anymore. You should get some rest but first, dinner." 

The twins helped me into the kitchen. Walking was a lot harder than it used to be and sitting down was even more of a chore. I held my breath, determined to be tough about the whole thing.

"Look Ri-chan!" Honey sang happily, prancing from the kitchen, carrying a large cake in his hands. "I brought strawberry cake cuz I know it's your favorite!"

He was right. I loved strawberries and strawberry cake. I ate them all the time at the host club, not in the same quantities as my small senior but I did eat a large amount. I never thought that he paid that much attention.

"That's great Honey-sempai," I smiled at him as he put the cake on the table. He sat beside me, anxiously awaiting the arrival of our friends. The other guys brought over more sweets and tea, all in celebration of my return home. They obviously hadn't picked up on my distaste for tea, though I wasn't going to complain. It was odd because I was Japanese but I just hated it. I could drink it, though I tended to avoid it like the plague.

Mori sat a different cup in front of me, which made me very confused. I picked it up, studying the contents. It was a liquid that was so deep purple that it was almost black in the cup and it smelled like heaven in a porcelain container.

"Grape juice," he informed me, a slight smile playing across his face. I didn't ever recall telling him that I loved grape juice more than strawberries. In fact, I knew that I'd never formally mentioned it to any of the host club members or even my clients. My face turned a little red but I managed to offer a small embarrassed smile.

The rest of the club sat to eat and the food was distributed. Honey, who'd gotten his cake first since he was practically drooling at the sight, inhaled his cake before we even got our slices. It was a never ending wonder for me to see him devour food so greedily. Mori shoveled off his strawberries to my plate. I stopped mid bite to watch him as he did so with a flat face. He didn't like strawberries, I knew that, and from what I could tell, he wasn't a big fan of sweets either. Which wasn't a big surprise to me. He didn't seem like a sweets person. He was more of a potato chip to me.

"Takeshi doesn't like strawberries," Honey told me in a whisper, giving Mori a look. "He always gives them away." He didn't seem to approve of his cousin's distaste for strawberries and I had to agree with it. Strawberries were like little god fruits.

I ate all the strawberries, unable to stop myself, and most of my cake but I wasn't really hungry. The doctors said that some of my medicine would take away my appetite so I had to make sure to eat some because I'd already dropped a lot of weight that I couldn't really afford to lose. I'd lost over fifteen pounds, which put me way under weight. If I ate right, I'd gain it all back in no time but it was hard to eat when you weren't hungry. After we finished eating, someone's maids (and I wasn't really sure who's) came over and cleaned up. Damn rich people. They couldn't clean up after themselves for anything could they?

The twins helped me up to my feet and I grimaced at the sudden shot of pain that raced through my body. Most of my medicine had worn off and now it really hurt to stand up straight. Everyone in the room seemed to freeze, though it really wasn't a big deal. I'd already gotten the stitches out.

"Devil Twins!" Tamaki cried, jumping to his feet, nearly knocking my already slightly battered table over. His voice and face had his usual king of the host club flair. "Be careful! She is precious cargo!"

"But Boss," Kaoru objected.

"We didn't do anything," Hikaru finished.

"It's just going to hurt," I told him, forcing a smirk. It really wasn't as big of deal as Tamaki was of course making it out to be.

His eyes got all big and googly. What a drama queen. "That's daddy's baby!" he cooed, clenching his fist in front of his face. "You just be strong!"

He was always such a spaz but it was always kind of fun to watch. I was more than used to it now. I expected it. Not like when I first started hosting. His melodrama scared me and made me uncomfortable but not so much anymore. It still was a little weird and I tried to down play his activeness but all in all, it didn't really bother me.

The twins helped me back to my room, slowly so I didn't strain myself, and helped me lower myself onto my bed. I stretched out carefully, flinching a little as I laid back. The twins took seats on the floor next to the bed, their golden eyes big and studying me carefully.

"Does it hurt really bad?" Kaoru asked. He sounded kind of like Honey, his voice small and childish.

"Not really," I said, sounding tougher than I felt. "Depends on how I move, honestly."

"Is it going to scar really bad?" Hikaru asked. I knew that was going to be a slight issue with the boys who liked to dress me up like I was a doll. They should've had a sister. Maybe Santa would bring them one.

It was weird hearing them sound so serious and concerned. They hadn't ever really expressed concern before, even during school. I was the only that they talked to and it was a whole bunch. Before my accident, I had noticed them to start opening up a lot more. Maybe that meant that they were expanding their world. I hoped so because they were so sad and they didn't even know it.

"Yeah," I admitted with a mischievous smirk. "But I kind of planned on it." I traced the lines on my stomach. There were going to be five nasty scars altogether. One was straight across, below my rib cage, two of them were diagonal, crossing like an x, the longer one reaching from my side, down diagonally to my left hip. The other was shorter, from my right hi and up barely crossing the other by much. I had two smaller cuts, one straight up and down and another that went a little side ways. "They'll look kinda cool one day." I gave them a smile, hoping my optimism would rub off on them but I wasn't an optimist. I was a realist.

"Why would anyone do this to you?" Hikaru asked suddenly, putting his head down, cradling it in his palms. "Why would anyone want to kill you?" 

"You're like the nicest person ever!" Kaoru agreed, comforting his twin.

I didn't have answer right then, at least not one that I was going to spill to my favorite ginger twins, so I changed the subject. "Hey, it's your turn to stay with me isn't it?" I asked, smiling.

"Yea," they said together, their faces sparkling a little.

"We can watch a bunch of movies. I have like a million," I told them, happily. "And, it beats hospital cable."

That seemed to cheer them up exponentially, since the three of us did share a love of movies. They briefly quizzed me about what kind of movies I had, action, drama, thriller, and Disney movies, until Kyoya came in and asked if he could talk to the twins. They left, promising to be right back.

**Another rather slow chapter but you can blame it on life. Haha. Soon, I'll be posting a sequel to my previous work The Ouran Boys Took Over My School called Payback is a Tailyr. Lol. IDK what to call it but the sequel will up soon! BUT MAKE SURE TO REVIEW THIS!**


	10. Chapter 10: Just A Dream

**WHEN WILL THE ACTION PICK UP?  
x_x -Dead Face. Haha.  
I hoping, once we get through some more boring but needed stuff, we'll get to some real action.  
Thank you for sticking it out his far!  
I'm very grateful.  
Please make sure to review.**

-Mori-

We stood in a loose circle in Rikku's kitchen, each of us still looking a bit tired and scattered. Staying in the hospital did that to people, which in my head defeated the purpose of being at the hospital in the first place. Kyoya had to ask us something important, I could tell, and it was never a good sign. Finally, the boy started speaking.

"What if," he began in his normal matter of fact tone, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Someone comes looking for Rikku? Someone from her … scene?"

That was a legit question – and I was kind of guessing that he couldn't think of a better word than scene. I knew what I'd do and I couldn't stop the images from crossing through my mind. I'd probably just kill them if I suspected that they were in anyway involved with her accident, which I would instantly if they came looking for her. I could tell from the looks on everyone else's faces that they were thinking the same thing. The twins were probably wondering how to make it last as long as possible, while I was considering the bloodiest options.

"Do you think they might come looking for her Kyo-chan?" Mitskuni asked innocently, his doe eyes resting on the shadow king.

"It's a possibility, considering they believe that she's still alive," he said, tilting his head slightly to the side. "I'm hoping that they believe her to be dead because I kept it out of the news and from getting around. Should they find out that Rikku is still alive, they might come back to find her."

That wasn't something that I wanted to happen. I didn't want her involved with the people who nearly killed her and I didn't want them in the same country really.

"What can we do?" Tamaki asked, his face contorted into an unusual look of worry.

Before Kyoya could answer, there was a knock on the door. My heart skipped a beat and for a moment, no one moved. There was another knock. We all exchanged wide eyed glances, wondering if Kyoya may have spoken at the right time. Mitskuni answered the door cautiously, being the closest to it, but I quickly jerked him back, nearly taking him off of his feet.

The stranger was tall and burly, some where around his mid thirties. He was very large, a little shorter than me but his arms were the size of my legs. He sported a buzz cut and a five o'clock shadow. I tensed instantly, ready for a fight.

"Is Rikku Samato here?" he asked sounding slightly urgent.

"Who the hell are you?" the twins demanded together angrily.

-Rikku-

I couldn't hear the boys talking, at least, that's what I was assuming they were doing, but I did hear the knock. It was kind of loud.

"Is Rikku Samato here?" I knew that voice. That was Bo. What was he doing here?

"Who the hell are you?" the twins demanded sounding angry.

_Uh - oh, _I thought, suddenly more aware of the situation. They were my friends, the most over protective and panic prone guys that I knew and there was some strange giant beating on my door asking for me. _I need to get up and stop this before it starts. _

__I forced myself up out of bed, which was a lot harder than it used to be but everything seemed that way as of late, and walked carefully, if not painfully, to the door of my bedroom. The twins had left it slightly opened.

"Who the hell are you?" Bo asked, sounding just as weary as the twins. He didn't know these teenage boys that were suddenly in my apartment and knowing him, he went worst case scenario instantly.

I made it to the kitchen before they could answer or turn to violence. But just barely and I hurt. Like, a lot but I didn't need them ripping apart my house. I'd never seen Honey and Mori in a fight but I'd heard the different stories and rumors. I'd be lucky if there was a building by the time the cousins finished.

"Bo," I called to the man, barely managing to get loud enough for him to hear me on the other side of the room. Everyone turned to look at me and I turned a little red.

"Jesus Christ, Rikku," he said sounding a little relieved as he entered quickly, rushing to my side. He didn't touch me, rather he stood awkwardly, looking at me like he was trying to figure out what wasn't broken. I couldn't say that I blamed him.

"Wait, Rikku," Tamaki cried, confusion obvious in his voice. "You know him? Who is this man?"

"This is Bo," I told them, my voice reminding me of Kyoya's. "He worked the door where I used to fight. He always looked out for me, making sure I made it home after a tough fight or just keeping me out of major trouble. Bo, these are my friends. Tamaki Suoh, Takeshi Morinozuka, Mitskuni Honinozuka, Kyoya Ootori, and the Hitachiin twins, Hikaru and Kaoru. Guys, this is Bo. Actually his real name is Kenta Akatsuki but I call him Bo. He's not dangerous. I promise."

They were hesitant but I couldn't say that I blamed them. They probably never met anyone like him and Bo was slightly intimidating. I didn't like the awkwardness that was floating in the air and I gave a little cough.

"What are you doing here Bo?" I asked, looking up at the man.

"Well, word's gotten around that someone offed you and I got worried when I didn't see you at the fights. So I came to check on you," he explained. "Looks like they weren't too far off. What happened to you?"

"Thanks," I mumbled. 

"What happened?"

"Actually," Kyoya interjected, sliding his glasses up his nose again. I still thought that was an irritating habit of his but I didn't say anything about it of course. Maybe I could one day. "She shouldn't be up on her feet. Rikku needs her rest. Maybe we should move this discussion to the living room."

We went into my living room. I was aided by Bo because he warded off the twins' attempt to assist me. It was great to not have to be standing up straight. I thought I was going to die from it.

"Okay, now tell me," he said, once I'd gotten mostly comfortable on the couch. "What happened to you?"

I wasn't sure if I could force my way through the whole story again. I'd managed to tell the Host Club but that was almost too much. It wasn't something I ever wanted to relive, even in memory. I knew that the memories wouldn't go away but I was pretty good at suppressing painful memories.

"I quit working for Boss Sebachi," I began slowly, fiddling with my fingers. "I guess I was pretty melodramatic about it. I was just walking around after that."

"I wasn't working that night," he said thoughtfully. "I wasn't there to take you home but Jinji was working the door and said he saw you run out. I would've taken you home if I was there."

"I know," I reassured him. Bo was always pretty good about looking after me. "I didn't go home. I was just walking when a van pulled up beside me … They put a bag over my head. It smelled weird, like sweet that made me sick, and I passed out. When I woke up, I was strapped down to a table. They … Like, tried to disembowel me and they carved me up real good and beat me. I can't really remember most of it. I just know that it hurt. I can't even remember what they looked like … the men who did this. They dumped me on the street some where, in the gutter. I tried to crawl out of the street but I passed out. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in ICU two weeks later."

Bo didn't say anything right away. His eyes were narrow and dark, angry with his boss. I couldn't think of anything to say to him to make him calm down.

"That … monster," he breathed hoarsely, twisting his fingers around and around in frustration. Every muscle his neck was tense and I could see his biceps rippling. "You're just a … kid … and you paid your debt … You … have a right to live. He doesn't own you."

"You know Bo," I told him quietly. "I'm going to be fine though. They might not look like it, but these guys do help me out a lot. Thank you for being worried about me. You don't have to worry about me anymore though. I'm well looked after."

"Actually," Kyoya said, adjusting his glasses. Oh my god. I wished he'd quit that. There were theories of why he did that cooking up in my brain. "He can help you. If he is up for it."

"What ever you need," Bo said anxiously. His hands were clenched into tight fists. I could trace the veins with my eyes, standing out against his lightly tanned skin. "Anything."

"Tell everyone that you came here today. As many people as you can," Kyoya began slowly. "Tell everyone that you found out that Rikku Samato is dead. You don't have to really know anything else. Just say that some friends were here cleaning the apartment out."

Both Bo and I gave him wide eyed confused looks.

"Why?" I asked. I understood a lot of things that Kyoya did but I didn't see why I had to die for this plan.

"Because, we don't want anyone who hurt you to come back thinking that they can get you again," Kyoya explained. "You understand, don't you Mr. Bo?"

He nodded. Seriously? He was agreeing with this. "I'll tell them. I'll still be allowed to check on Rikku, right?" he asked. "She's like a kid to me. I just want to make sure that she's in good hands." The last part of his speech sounding very threatening, like he was telling the Host Club to watch what they did.

_That's sweet, _I thought, turning a little red.

"Certainly," Kyoya agreed, giving a devil man smirk. "But for now, this visit has to be cut short. Rikku just got home from the hospital and she needs to rest. I'm certain she's tired."

I gave Kyoya a slight glare but he was right, I was tired. I also wanted the pain to stop but I doubted that would happen. The twins helped me to my feet. After I said my good byes to Bo, they helped me back to my bedroom. It was nice to lay down and I found myself falling asleep easily.

-Mori-

"Listen," Bo said to Kyoya once the twins had returned from helping Rikku to her room. "I know that you've got way more money and power than me but, I have connections. I was just working for Sebachi to look after Rikku. I'm the leader of an important sect. I'm going to take care of Sebachi myself."

That was interesting information. I was sure that Rikku didn't know that about her friend. Apparently, Kyoya found this information as enlightening as I did.

"Why didn't you simply finish him of earlier?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

"For Rikku. She has a determination to do everything on her own. She's been alone for so long … I don't think that she knows how to depend on other people. I just wanted to make sure that she wasn't working for Sebachi anymore before I did anything. If I didn't, she'd be honor bound to fight back against me. That's just how things work for people like … me."

I noticed that he didn't include Rikku in that. He had the same thought as I did. Rikku wasn't someone who would enjoy that line of work.

He headed for the door but stopped and turned back to us. "Also, thanks for looking out for her. She needed good friends like you guys. Someone who will look after her better than I will."

He left after that, letting the door fall closed behind him with a muffled click.

-Rikku-

Time passed slowly for the next few days but at least it passed. The twins started bringing my homework to me everyday so I wouldn't fall behind. I was glad to have something to occupy my time with. I could only watch so many movies, though I loved each of them and memorized every line.

"Okay, Tamaki-sempai," I said, scratching my head. I was feeling really miserable and sleep deprived. I'd been taken off my sleeping medication the night before and I'd been hit with a horrible nightmare that I couldn't shake well enough to even nap during the day. "I don't understand this one. Can you help me?"

Tamaki leaned stood and came over to me, looking at the math problem that I had scattered out in front of me. He tilted his head to the side, puffing his bottom lip out a bit. "Here," he said, pointing to one spot. "You should've made that negative. Five minus eleven isn't positive six."

"Why is it, that one dumb little line changes my whole dadgum problem?" I asked, erasing the half of a page that I'd messed up on. "That's so dumb."

"I agree but the good thing about math is that it's the same everywhere you go."

"Well, I'm not going anywhere any time soon," I grumbled. Tamaki laughed and patted the top of my head.

"Just be tough and Daddy will take you anywhere you wanna go once you're all better," he said grandly. I turned red because I was just easily embarrassed.

That night, I tried to sleep but once again, the same nightmare hit me. The feeling of terror washed over me as I struggled uselessly against the restraints. I couldn't get away. There were knives in their hands. They were going to hurt me.

I jerked out of bed to fast for my body to handle and I gasped, gripping my stomach. Cold sweat dripped of my face and I drug a shaking hand across my brow.

"Just a dream," I told myself quietly. "Just a dream."

But that wasn't really true. It was more than a dream. It was a memory. A reality. I stood, and headed to the kitchen for a little late night grape juice to calm my nerves. Tamaki was sound asleep in the living room. Nothing could wake that boy, which was a good thing in this case. I grabbed a cup and poured myself a glass, willing myself to be calm.

"Just a dream, Rikku. Just. A. Dream."

**Or is it? Ha. I hope you liked this painfully slow and boring chapter! I'm sorry guys. Please forgive me but it's necessary. At least, I think it is. Please make sure to REVIEW!**


	11. Chapter 11: Borderline Heaven

**The difference between a moral and an ethical man?  
An ethical man knows he shouldn't cheat on his wife.  
Whereas a moral man actually wouldn't.**

**A little tidbit from Ducky from NCIS. **

**Anyway. I hope you're enjoying the series and I know that it's been slowly lately.  
I'm sorry for that but thanks for sticking with me. **

**I'm nothing without you faithful readers and your reviews.**

I sat in my living room with Kyoya, who was busily typing away on his laptop. I'd spent enough one on one time with all of the Host Club guys that I didn't really care to be alone with them. Even Devil Man, Kyoya, who didn't scare me as much anymore.

I'd just finished my homework and was now watching an old Disney movie, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, for about the eleventh time. I knew all of the lines for all of the songs and every word that the characters said. I had a slight interest with the movies I owned. 

Kyoya had just ordered take out. It took some time to explain to the guys that we didn't have to eat rich every night and once they figured out that you could get food delivered too you, a few (the twins and Tamaki – cough cough) of them went a little bananas.

"Kyoya - sempai," I said, after watching him for a moment.

He looked up at me, a questioning look on his face.

"I really hate it when you push your glasses up on your nose when you talk," I told him in a slow awkward voice. I couldn't stop myself or a small blush from washing over my face. He'd just adjusted the wire frames up his nose and I really couldn't hold it in anymore.

He gave me an amused smirk, tilting his head to the side. "Really?" he asked. He slid his glasses up again, though I was sure it was just to annoy me. My face flushed deeper and I puffed my cheeks out a little at him.

"Yes," I said seriously. "You just did it again! Is it like habit or something?"

"I don't know. I never thought about it before," he shrugged nonchalantly, closing his eyes.

"I think that it's a protection mechanism," I blurted before I could stop myself.

"Excuse me?"

I thought about what I was going to say, chewing on my lower lip slightly. I rocked my head from side to side thoughtfully for a moment. "Well," I said slowly. "You do it when you're being scarey a lot. Or when you're trying to be bigger than someone. I think it's just because you don't want anyone to see that you're scared. You just want people to think that you're better than them so they won't fight back."

"I don't think so," he coughed a little awkwardly, adjusting his glasses once more.

"Or when you're embarrassed," I smiled at him. "And I do think so." After a moment I added shyly, "Um, I also want to thank you for taking care of me. You did a lot and you didn't have to."

He smirked knowingly, once again in his element of knowing more than I did. "I think that the one you should really be thanking is Mori - sempai," he informed me.

I gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?" I asked, shifting to sit up a little straighter.

"He donated blood to you, since your types matched. Two pints which his the maximum that anyone can donate at one time. He stayed at the hospital more than anyone else and he was the one who suggested that we read or talk to you while you when you were in the coma," Kyoya explained casually, like it wasn't a big deal.

_He donated blood to me? _I thought, slightly amazed. _Mori-sempai never said anything to me about it. Not that he ever says much._

__"Of course, Mori - sempai will never say anything about it. He did because he cares for you. We all do," Kyoya continued.

"Thank you though," I told him, looking down to hide the crimson blush of my face. "I don't wanna know what would've happened if you guys didn't take such good care of me."

There was a knock, our takeout had arrived, and Kyoya got up to answer the door. As he passed, he patted the top of my head. I looked up at him. I couldn't figure out why my seniors always felt the need to pat the top of my head when I got embarrassed. It only made it worse.

"Just get better," he requested, continuing on.

"Look, Ri - chan!" Honey proclaimed, prancing in with a huge grin plastered to his face and a box in his hands. "I brought cake!"

He never ate anything but cake until Mori made him. It was amazing to watch. At the same time, I wondered where he put it all because he at A LOT. Almost more than Mori did. More than me which was saying something – I'd more than once been accused of having two hollow legs.

"What kind?" I asked though I already had a hunch.

"Strawberry!" he told me joyfully. Oh my Christ, strawberry. I loved it when Honey and Mori came over and it wasn't just because they always brought cake.

"I brought Bento," Mori said in his usual monotone, holding them up. He always had real food because like me, he couldn't survive on sugar alone. I was surprised that Honey apparently could. I was glad he was so thoughtful because my fridge was mostly empty since I hadn't had a chance to go shopping – which was going to happen over the hosts' dead bodies – and there wasn't anything but grape juice, half a gallon of milk and some left over take out.

_Honey bounced around the kitchen for a moment, holding the cake in one hand and stretching for some plates with the other, nearly dropping the precious sweets. Mori silently chastised him and he bounced over to me._

_____No wonder Honey-sempai stays so small. He's always bouncing around like an idiot. Probably from all of the sugar he eats. I guess that's why all of those kids with "reckless" parents stay skinny too. They burn off all of the energy by bouncing around._

__Honey deposited the cake on the table and sat down next to me, throwing his arms around my shoulders. He hugged me but not too tightly. I was looking forward to being treated like normal. Not like I was made of porcelain. I was also looking forward to not hurting all of the time, though most of the pain had gone a way. It still came when I moved the wrong way or too quickly, like a jerk or something.

"You should've been at school today, Ri-chan! Kao-chan fell in the lunch room and got his soup all over Tama-chan!" he told me, his eyes shining with excitement. "It was so funny! Hika-chan almost cried from laughing so hard!"

I started laughing, imaging the situation in my head. I really missed going to school. I missed having something to do mostly but I also missed having all my friends around me and hosting at the club. I couldn't wait to go back but I still had week before I could return. Even then, I'd be on light duty for a while, until I got used to the physical activity normal days required. I was doing good in the physical therapy so, that was a plus.

"You really like movies don't you, Ri - chan?" Honey asked as I put away the movies I'd been looking at. I'd been deciding on what movie to watch next and had gotten out about five different prospects.

"Yeah," I told him smiling. Movies was something that my dad and I used to do together. All the classics and foreign action films were big in our house but I didn't tell Honey that, instead I said, "Can't afford cable and no commercials."

He laughed, like he got it. I wasn't entirely sure that he understood but I was going to let it go, deciding that it would we entirely too difficult to explain it to him. After dinner, I did the work that Honey and Mori had brought for me. I was glad that I didn't really need their help. After a movie or two, we settled in to sleep.

"Good night, Ri-chan!" Honey called as I headed for my room. He wore footsy pajamas, which didn't surprise me in the least. Actually, it was super cute since they were pink with light pink bunnies all over them. He also had his bunny, Usa.

"Good night," Mori told me, smirking. Much like his cousin, his pajamas were exactly what you'd expect him to wear, simple plaid pajama pants and he went shirtless. I wasn't complaining about it either.

"Night guys," I said, giving them a smile before entering my room, shutting the door behind me.

Quickly, I changed for bed. Really, all I'd been doing since I'd been home was change from one set of pajamas to another. I found a pair of teal blue and black plaid pajama shorts and a Aqua Timez tee shirt. I lived in band shirts.

I laid down on my bed, staring at my ceiling idly, waiting for sleep to finally win out despite my best efforts. The dream was really bad the night before. Not only once did it hit me but twice and I'd nearly woken Kyoya up the second time. I didn't want the guys to worry so I did try to sleep some and not act tired because the moment they found out, they'd have me seeing a shrink or something. I wasn't crazy or traumatized. I think.

It was no different tonight, which wasn't a surprise. I dreamed of the cool knife, slicing open my flesh. The crazed look of satisfaction on my attackers. Their laughter and cold blooded attack. Bright lights shining in my eyes, making it hard for me to see their faces. I couldn't get away, no matter how much I objected.

I jerked up, drowning on air, in blankets, without making a sound but I could feel the scream lodging itself in my throat. A surge of pain flashed through my body and I cringed, gripping the fabric of my sheets between my fingers.

_Just remember to breathe. _I told myself, as I shakily rose from my warm bed. I slipped into the kitchen, careful not to make any noise, not wanting to wake either of my house guests. It was getting easier to walk, which was a good thing in my opinion. I hated to have to depend on everyone else do everything for me. I was more than capable of taking care of myself.

I opened the refrigerator and got a bottle of grape juice that the twins had bought for me a couple days before. They said it was some fancy stuff but it didn't taste any different than what I usually bought. I twisted the cap off.

"Rikku?" came Mori's tired voice. I jumped when I heard it, nearly dropping my juice, spinning to face him with wide eyes.

"Sorry," he apologized, sounding almost sheepish.

"It's okay," I choked, trying and failing to hide the shaking of my voice. "I didn't hear you come up. I didn't wake you did I?"

"No."

I took a drink of my juice, looking at Mori from the corner of my eye. I needed something to calm me down and a moment to gather myself. I didn't want him to worry about me. He'd already done enough.

"Why are you up?" he asked after I couldn't hold any more grape juice in my mouth.

I put the juice down on the counter, staring at it for a moment. Finally, I turned to look at my much bigger friend. "I had a nightmare," I admitted sheepishly. I found it hard to keep things from Mori and he'd been pretty trust worthy so far.

"About the attack?" he asked after a pause.

"Yeah … Um," my voice jumped up about three octaves from nervousness. "Can I tell you something?"

"Sure," he agreed.

I held out my pinky. Again, I didn't want the host club to know. They would freak out and they had enough issues without adding mine to the mix.

"This pinky promise is legit," I said seriously. "If you break this pinky promise. I'll break your pinky – promise."

Mori nodded, releasing my pinky. He took a more casual stance and patiently waited for me to begin.

"All of the host club thinks that Boss Sebachi was trying to kill me," I told him slowly, looking at my feet. "But he wasn't. If he wanted me dead he would've just killed me."

"Then why," Mori asked, slightly disbelieving. I'd never heard him sound so … emotional? I didn't know how to describe how he sounded at that moment. "Did he have this done to you?"

"To remind me," I stated simply, looking up at him. "That I still belong to him."

Mori reached out, grabbing my wrist, and pulled me into a tight hug. It was comforting and I felt a lot safer in his arms. He held me tightly to his chest, almost cradling me to him. "You don't belong to anyone. Especially him. The only one you're allowed to belong to is me."

"Wh - what?" I stammered.

Mori looked down at me, smiling his normal Mori smile. My face filled with heat and I fought the usual urge to look away to hide my embarrassment.

"I never, ever, want to see you hurt like that again. I want to hold you and protect you and never let you go," he explained. I'd never heard him talk so much or say such things. Even when he was hosting, he didn't say anything. He was always silent and strong. "Mostly, I want you to be mine."

I stared at him open mouthed, unable to hide my amazement. He smirked, not his usual smirk either, which was unusual for him. Finally, I recovered myself, if only to level of a semi stupid fan girl but I was going to take what I could get.

"When I was in the hospital," I told him slowly. "The first thing I saw was you and I knew I was safe. I've never felt safer with anyone in my life. I kept thinking that, I still wanted to see you and the whole time I kept telling myself you'd be upset if I died. I didn't want you to be upset."

He was full on smiling now. He bent his head low, his warm lips softly connecting with mine and for a moment, I forgot how to breathe. There was no world outside of the two of us. It was just me and him, lost in each other.

We broke apart. I was blushing furiously. Mori kissed the top of my head and held me even closer to him. "I love you Rikku. Forever."

I was determined to find this forever and tell it to wait to arrive. If I was to die right then and, by some chance, I made it to heaven, I'd want it to be an eternity like this.

**Wow. The end of these made me feel like a total cheese ball. Please excuse my lame romanticism. I'm not so good at it yet but I promise to work at it. Please make sure to comment about it. Thank you for reading and please make sure to review!**


	12. Chapter 12: The Last Night Alone

**Well, I finally did it. I made them get together.  
Suddenly, I'm singing that new band-aid commercial song. It's so lame.**

**Thanks for sticking with me this far!  
And thank you for the great reviews!**

**Keep it up and we will make it through all this!**

**Thank you!**

I got the all clear to return to school after two weeks of being at home. I was still on light duty though and I tended to wear out quickly but I was ecstatic to be able to get things back to my flavor of normal. Most of my bruises had went away and only my muscles and cut mostly healed cuts hurt. I was doing physical therapy to get my strength back in my abdomen and while it was rigorous, I was grinning through it. The more I did and the stronger I got the closer I was to being normal and okay again.

"Are you glad to be back, Rikku?" one of the girls that I usually entertained asked. I was surrounded by classmates as I sat in my desk. Good thing I wasn't claustrophobic.

"Yes," I told her, smiling my best host club smile. "I got very tired of sitting at home doing nothing. I'm glad to be back. I missed you guys."

Of course that made all of the girls swoon. They asked what I did while I was out.

"She watched every movie she owned at least twice," Kaoru said, crinkling his nose.

"Most of them were American Disney movies," Hikaru added, his face mimicking Kaoru's.

"And she knew every line," they said together.

"So do you," I told them, pretending to be insulted but I was grinning to much for it to be convincing. They gave me a look.

"Yeah. Now," they said flatly.

We all laughed. The day was long and I ended up sneaking off to the host room after lunch to take a nap because I was so tired. The host club was of course, great about helping me out. I slept for a couple of hours and made it to my final class of the day.

After school, the twins and I headed off to Host Clubroom. Kyoya made sure that I was feeling up to hosting. I insisted that I was fine, only a little tired. The girls came and they cooed over me the whole time. They wouldn't let me do much, not that I was complaining but it was tiring to keep smiling and keep them happy. I sweetly allowed them to ask questions and I remembered to follow the story that Kyoya and the rest of the club had came up with to explain my injuries.

By the time club hours had ended, I was exhausted all over again but it was a pleasant feeling. We all sat down at my table, eating cake and sipping tea. Actually, I wasn't drinking or eating. I was sitting, working on staying awake.

"Did you enjoy your first day back Rikku?" Kyoya asked.

"I'm tired," I answered weakly. "But I'm glad to be back. It beats staying home."

"We're glad you're back too!" Tamaki squealed, wrapping his arms around me in a super tight hug. I couldn't wiggle out and it was kind of hard to breathe.

"You're hurting me," I groaned, uselessly trying to push him away. I wondered where he got all the strength from. "Let me go."

He gave a wail, prancing off to his emo corner, which always seemed to appear from no where whenever he wanted it to, muttering about how his baby daughter didn't like him anymore. It was totally ludicrous. Even though I was dead tired, I still had missed the host club and all their antics. It made me feel like everything was going to be normal.

"Are you ready to go?" Takeshi asked me, standing behind me. I looked up at him from my chair. Honey was sitting on his shoulders, grinning happily.

"Yeah," I nodded, rising from my chair slowly and turning to face him. "I can't believe how much I missed these guys."

Takeshi smiled down at me. I could barely believe that we'd been dating for almost a whole week – it seemed like we'd been together forever. The other guys took the news a lot better than I expected.

_"So," I said my face reddening, studying my fingers. Takeshi and I had decided to tell the host club two days after we had our little conversation in my kitchen. We were all sitting in my living room. "Takeshi and I are dating now."_

_Might as well get it right out there since there was no point in avoiding it._

_Honey jumped up from my couch, grinning hugely. "Yay! It's about time! I thought I was going to have to wait forever!" He seemed a lot happier than I thought he would. I wasn't exactly sure how he was going to take it but I was glad for a positive response._

_"I'm happy for you both but it might be an awkward situation if you reveal it at school but that's entirely up to you," Kyoya said. I knew what he meant. I was supposed to be a boy at school and the __girls would flip but we'd already discussed that. "You don't have to host anymore, Rikku."_

_I looked at Tamaki, who was sitting next to Kyoya. He had big googly eyes. He jumped to be face to face with me. I pulled back a little, my face flushing red like it usual. "Are you asking for Daddy's permission?" he cooed._

_I gave him a flat look, suddenly not so embarrassed. Now I was amazed by his sense of self worth. "No. I just didn't want you guys to freak out when you see us acting like a couple. You're my friends."_

_That sent him spiraling to his emo corner, saying that he was my daddy and the usual blah blah blah. I just sighed and ignored him completely._

_"Well," Hikaru said, a mischievous grin making it's way across his face. "We're okay with this."_

_"On one condition," Kaoru said, smiling and holding up his index finger._

_"This will be good," I mumbled, giving Takeshi an apologetic look. There wasn't really a point, he knew how the twins were._

_"You're not allowed to be a bad boyfriend, Mori - sempai," Hikaru said._

_"If you hurt our favorite toy," Kaoru began._

_"We're going to hurt you. Really bad," they finished together in a low warning tone._

_"I'd deserve it," Takeshi said in his usual monotone. He was very serious."I promise not hurt her."_

Honey, Takeshi, and I were heading to my house but they weren't staying the night. It was going to be the first night I spent alone since my accident. It was certainly going to be weird since I'd gotten so used to having someone there with me and everyone's nerves were running high. Well, mine were but I knew that Takeshi's were. I could tell from the looks that he kept giving me.

"If you need anything, call me," Takeshi said for about the the tenth time, as we stood in front of my apartment door. I could feel the anxiety rolling off of him.

I slid my arms around his waist and hugged him tight looking at him innocently. "I will," I told him. "Promise."

Takeshi held his pinky up, giving me a little smile. I linked it with mine.

"If you break this pinky promise," he began. "I'll break your pinky - promise. Well, not really but you get the idea."

I smiled and stretched up on my toes. Takeshi smirked, knowing what I wanted. He bent his head low and kissed me. Once we broke apart, I smiled at him sheepishly and disappeared into my house.

-Omniscient Narrator-

Night came. As it did, it found all of our Host Club in a tense situation. Each of them hyped up on some unknown source of adrenaline.

The twins found it impossible to sleep, as they lay together in their king sized bed. Neither of them said a word as they stared up at their dark ceiling, each lost in his own thoughts about what was going on. Hikaru sat up, dragging his fingers through his red hair. Kaoru sat up as well, holding onto his twin's free hand.

Kyoya stared at the empty screen of his laptop despite the late hour, unsure of what to type. Every time he tried something, he just erased it because it seemed wrong. Something was desperately wrong but he couldn't place his finger on it. It irritated the shadow king that he didn't know as he finally closed his laptop with a little too much force.

Even Honey found it difficult to eat his cake, as it was his dessert night. He just picked at it, absentmindedly, staring at it as if it held the answers to his unsettled. Feelings. He finally just gave it up, grabbing Usa and leaving the kitchen.

Tamaki paced, rubbing his face and wringing his hands in nervousness. He walked quickly back and forth across the length of his massive bedroom. He mumbled in French under his breath and his eyes darted to all corners of his room.

Mori wandered all over his house, unable to sleep. He had no aim for how he was walking and he kept wondering if Rikku was sleeping. He also wondered what was keeping him awake though he was tired from a long day at school and hours of Kendo practice. He couldn't stay in one place for very long, feeling almost as if he would explode if he stopped moving.

Rikku laid in bed as well, waiting for sleep to come but anxiety had wound its way into the pit of her stomach. She didn't know why she couldn't sleep now, though she'd slept just fine at school.

Yes, the entire host club found sleep impossible. The pressure was building in the back of each of their minds though none of them knew exactly why but, they were about to find out.

-Rikku-

I stared at my ceiling but I couldn't really see it in the dark. The house was too quiet. Too dark. It was almost smothering me. It was lonely, looming over me, making me feel like the victim of some horror movie. Not one that died later on in the film but like the first victim that starts it all off. I rolled onto my side and grabbed my cell phone off of my bedside table.

I stared at it debating on my next move. Finally, I ceded, and speed dialed Takeshi, even though I figured that he was asleep.

"Rikku?" he sounded more alert and awake than I was. He also sounded very anxious.

"Hey," I said, holding Hime close to me. "I can't sleep. I'm actually kind of freaking out."

"Do I need to come over?" he asked.

"No," I told him sitting up, pulling my knees up to my chest. I rested my chin on them, my rabbit securely held between my stomach and my legs. "Just talk to me for a while and I - " I cut short because I heard something. It sounded like yelling and scuffling. Despite how bad of a neighborhood I lived in, fighting this late at night was unheard of.

"Rikku?" Takeshi asked cautiously after a moment. "What's wrong?"

I stood up, clenching Hime to my chest as I walked toward my bedroom door. I pressed my phone closer to my ear. "There's someone fighting outside," I informed him slowly barely above a whisper. It didn't really matter, I was fairly certain that they couldn't hear me. They were outside after all.

"Don't leave your room," he warned, his voice tight with worry. "I'm coming over."

There was crashing, a melody of splintering wood and grunts. I jumped, a small high pitched gasp escaping my lips, nearly dropping my phone. I stepped back, the scraping of feet and cursing getting louder.

"Rikku!" Takeshi cried.

"They're in my house," I told him, my voice cracking from fear. "They just broke down the front door."

I heard him growl, deep in his throat. "Get in your closet," he instructed, stiffly. "I'm coming."

I did as I was told. Being as quiet as possible, I opened my closet door, sat down on the floor and shut it with a soft click. I huddled as far in the corner as possible, still clinging to my phone and Hime for comfort. I'd never been so scared in my life.

"Stay on the phone with me okay?" he urged trying to be calm and strong for me. It didn't really work.

Frightened tears streamed down my face and I choked back a sob. I didn't want Takeshi to know that I was crying and I didn't want the strangers to know I was in the closet.

"Now, what's going on?" he asked when I didn't respond to him.

I listened, straining for sounds that I couldn't hear. It wasn't because my closet was sound proof either. "The fighting stopped," I gasped, my voice and body shaking from fear. I couldn't help it. "Takeshi, I'm scared."

"I know, I know," he soothed. I could hear the roaring of an engine in the background. "It'll be okay. I'm almost there. Just hang on."

I heard the door to my room open slowly with an agonizing screech and I fought the urge to gasp. My breath catching in my throat but I managed to swallow it back. "There in my room," I croaked, barely loud enough for me to hear, as the door to my closet swung open.

For a moment, I just stared up at them, wordlessly wide eyed and silent, and they stared down, almost like they couldn't see me. Once of the men reached out and I screamed, kicking my leg out, hitting him in the knee. My phone flew from my grasp, along with Hime. They grabbed me, squeezing my arms tightly. I screamed and tried to pull myself free but it was to no avail.

"Rikku! Rikku!" Takeshi's voice exploded from the device but I couldn't answer.

-Takeshi-

It was tied for the worst night of my life, the opponent being the many agonizing nights that I'd spent in Rikku's hospital room just because she was hurt. The sounds of her frightened screams would haunt me forever, swimming around in my head. I couldn't do anything but listen and scream out her name, like it would help her.

The screaming started to get further away and my heart stopped pumping. I was literally dead for a second.

"Damn it," I cursed, though it really wasn't like me to use such language. I forced myself to end the call, which felt like I was cutting my last tie to the girl who meant the most to me. I dialed my cousin's phone number and pressed my phone to my ear. I didn't even care if he'd been asleep, this was too important. "Mitskuni, I need you to be at Rikku's house in five minutes."

I didn't wait for his response completely, hanging up at the first syllable of his okay. I dialed Kyoya's number, knowing that he could get the rest of the host club together while I worked on finding the bastards that took Rikku.

"I need everyone at Rikku's apartment now," I said quickly. Kyoya didn't even ask why, not that I gave him the opportunity. I just snapped my phone shut and clenched it tightly in my fist, my hand shaking.

This couldn't be happening. Not again, not to her. She had been through enough. I felt like my whole being was ripping in half from agony. When I found out who did this, they were going to wish that they never even heard Rikku's name. That I would pinky promise on my life.

**Holy fudge. Not again. Sorry for the cliffhanger (I hate them too) but it had to be done. Once again, thanks for sticking with me and I'm going to try to get the next chapter out quickly that way you won't have to sit on the sudden end for too long. I hate it when that happens. Please make sure to review!**


	13. Chapter 13: Break My Pinky

_**So, my opening won't be long this time because of the cliffhanger in the last chapter.**_

_**Thank you for reading and make sure to review!**_

_**That is all.**_

_My stomach was in my feet and sweat dripped from my face. I felt like throwing up and passing out all at the same time. Memories cycled through my head relentlessly of the most important promise I'd ever made in my life._

__

I was laying with Rikku, who had finally fallen back asleep. She had another nightmare and asked me to lay with her until she fell asleep but I was sure that getting up without waking her was out of the question because of how she was laying. She was nestled into my side, her hand resting on my chest.

_I was interested in her little fingers. The pinky. It was what first got my attention, that night when she confessed what she was really up to. Pinky promises, at first I felt kind of stupid but if it mad Rikku feel more secure, I was going to go with it. Now, those pinky promises were very important to each of us._

_I linked her pinky with mine and brought her hand up to my face, slowly and carefully. I kissed the back of her hand lightly, watching her face to make sure that I was going to cause her to wake up._

"I'll always protect you," I murmured, still holding her hand to my lips. "And if I break this pinky promise, you can break my pinky – promise."

__

  
"Where is she?" I snarled slamming one of the men that had been laying on the floor into the wall. There had been two men laying unconscious on Rikku's kitchen floor but they'd woken up pretty quickly once I started smacking one in the face.

"I - I don't know!" he stammered obviously terrified. Even in the semi darkness I could see how wide eyed the grown man was.

"Why are you here?" I demanded. If Rikku would've saw me then, she would've been scared of me. I was scared of me. I wasn't acting like myself but I was going to find her, no matter what the cost.

He just stammered around, not getting a real sentence out and it only made me angrier. I squeezed the fabric of his shirt tighter, considering switching to squeezing his throat.

"You better tell us," Mitskuni warned, his childish voice dark and scarey. He sounded like one of the possessed children from a horror movie, which considering how my night was going, was perfectly fitting. "Or you'll be sorry."

"W - We don't know," the other guy said. Mitskuni was one fourth of his height but he was still scared out of his mind. My cousin had him pinned to the floor somehow. "We work for Kenta in the Fifty Fifth Sect. He's had us staking out this place for the last couple of days."

"Why?" I growled. It wouldn't click in my head until later that they worked for Bo. At the moment, nothing was clicking. All that I knew was Rikku was in trouble and these punks had the answers that I wanted.

"He was worried about the girl that lives here," the man that I had explained. His voice was shaking and wavering. "The guys that took her came out of no where and they had weapons. We never saw them coming."

"Where are they taking her?" I demanded, slamming him into the wall again. "Tell me!"

"I don't know!" he choked. He wasn't helping me and I wanted to kill him for it.

"Takeshi," Mitskuni said, his tone was threatening any more. He sounded concerned now. "I don't think that they know."

I threw the guy on the floor as hard as I could, running my violently shaking hands through my short black hair. My whole world was crashing down around my head and it wasn't a pleasant feeling. I wanted to die, just drop right there in the middle of the kitchen, dead … but I couldn't do that. Not until I saved Rikku.

"Um," came a small voice from the doorway. I turned around quickly to face the new person intruding on my life. It was Rikku's landlady. She looked really scared, her hands covering her mouth and salty tears streaming down her cheeks. "Mori-san, Honey-san, I saw … I saw where they took Rikku."

I shifted to face her more completely, my foot dragging against the ground. Every muscle in my body was tense, ready to pounce but not on the innocent woman in front of me. No matter how angry I was, I wouldn't take it out on an innocent.

She wrung her hands nervously. "I … heard the scuffle and came to see what the problem was. I … followed them … down the block. There's a warehouse there … and that's where they took her," she stammered out. "Please save her."

I rushed out of the apartment, nearly knocking the landlady over. I didn't apologize. I wasn't thinking about anything but getting to Rikku on time. I sprinted past the entire host club, not pausing to look at them. There wasn't anything or anyone that was going to stop me. If those monsters had turned one hair on Rikku's head there was going to be blood – and lots of it.

-Honey-

The host club came running in, all of them looking confused and worried. I was still standing in the same spot, right above the other man that Takeshi and I had found lying in Rikku's kitchen floor. I couldn't move. I was too afraid. I'd never seen my calm cousin act like this. His eyes were flaming and he looked ready … Ready to kill.

"What happened?" the twins demanded but their voices had no fire. It was hollow.

I stared down at the floor, unsure of what to say at first. Finally, I looked up at them.

"Someone took Ri - chan," I told them, my eyes stinging with tears that were slowly tracking their way down my cheeks. "We have to hurry! Takeshi is going to kill somebody!"

That was all they needed to know. The host club followed me as I dashed from Rikku's apartment and down the street. I had to stop Takeshi. I had to save Rikku. It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

-Rikku-

I was thrown on the cold cement floor, which caused me to slide into the wall, rubbing all the skin off of my knees. I was scared to death, my heart hammering against my rib cage threatening to beat it's way out. I didn't understand what was going on and I was scared because of it.

"This is a lot of trouble for just some kid to cause," one of my captors grunted, looking at me skeptically. He was huge and slightly familiar but I couldn't really tell in the dark. The only lights came from the outside street lights and one lantern from the middle of the room that wasn't too bright.

"Maybe it wasn't her," the other man who had grabbed me.

"Oh, it was," came a voice that I recognized and it made me sick that it was so cold. It was Boss Sebachi's son, Ryo. "Wasn't it Rikku?"

"W - what are you talking about?" I stammered, pressing myself flatter against the wall, shifting to sit on my butt. My entire body was shaking, from both the cold and the fear. I had to think of something to do. I had to get away but there wasn't a way out. The only door was behind my kidnappers, there was no way that I'd get passed them. "Ryo, please tell me what's going on. Why are you doing this?"

"Revenge," he said, giving a slight shrug. Ryo looked a lot like his father, except much skinnier and younger, being only about twenty five. He was the total cliché of a mob bosses idiot child. He partied too much and didn't pay enough attention to what was going on around him which meant that Boss had to clean up a lot of his messes.

"Revenge?" I gasped, staring up at him fearfully. For as dumb as Ryo was, he was just as ruthless, almost like he was too stupid to have emotions. "F – For what? I didn't do anything."

He was suddenly in my face, pulling me to my feet by my hair. As soon as I was mostly to my feet he was slapping me hard across the cheek, sending me falling to the ground. I gasped, covering the stinging flesh. Tears sprouted up in my eyes without my control. "Nothing?" he sounded angry and spiteful, spitting the words at me. "You've done nothing? You had my father killed!"

I almost couldn't speak, mostly because my face hurt from Ryo's slap. I didn't know what he was talking about. I hadn't had contact with Boss Sebachi or any one but Bo since my accident. I tended to try to avoid people who tried to kill me. "I … didn't …" I whimpered, tears finally flowing down my face. "I … didn't … I … promise …"

"More lies!" he screamed, causing me to jump and cower even more. "You lie and you lie! You had those disgusting men in the Fifty fifth sect kill him!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" I cried. I didn't know anyone in the Fifty Fifth sect. I was pretty sure that I didn't even know where their territory was.

He slapped me again, even harder than the first time and I tasted blood. "You're pathetic," he scoffed, looking down his nose at me. "Too much of a coward to admit that you hired them. I know that you hired them Rikku."

He took a few steps away from me and turned. I didn't know what he was doing and then I heard the gun cock. The clinking of the metal and the sound of the bullet sliding into the chamber made me freeze in fear. My heart completely stopped, dropping to my knees, and I just stared.

_This is it, _I thought, scared but unable to look away, for a moment. _I love you Takeshi. _

__"I know it was you who had my father killed and now, you're going to pay for it," Ryo informed me coldly, aiming the gun at me. "No hard feelings though. It's not personal. It's just business, you understand right, Rikku?"

I flinched, closing my eyes and turning my head, choosing not to look in the eyes of my killer. I was scared. Too scared to breath or fight back. I couldn't move. This was it and I wasn't able to do anything. I wished that Takeshi was there but at the same time, I was glad that he wasn't. This wasn't something I wanted him to see because I knew what was about to happen.

Ryo was going to pull the trigger. The bullet was going to fly from the gun barrel at alarming speeds, going through my head completely, lodging itself in the wall behind me. My brains and blood would paint the area, I'd be dead before I hit the ground.

Then, suddenly, Takeshi was there, standing between me and Ryo like he was bullet proof. He round house kicked Ryo in the face, sending the gun flying and skidding across the floor. Ryo hit the ground with a grunt, blood spurting from his face instantly.

"Takeshi!" I cried, relief washing over me instantly, causing my heart to pick up speed.

He turned and rushed over to me, nearly hitting his knees in front of me. He helped me to my feet carefully, treating me like I was made of glass again. I felt like I was made of jello, my whole body shaking.

"I'm so sorry," he said in a low voice, brushing hair from my face. "I should've been faster."

"Don't take your eyes off your opponent!" one of the kidnappers snarled, rushing Takeshi from behind.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," came Kyoya's cool, evil voice which stopped the man in his tracks. He turned in all directions, looking for the source, which lay just past him. "In all actuality, it might be best if you two just sit down like good boys until the police get here."

I looked past Takeshi and my kidnappers to see all of the Host Club, positioned - rather dramatically - by the door. The shadows falling over them made them look like superheroes or something and even in the dark, I could see how angry they were. It almost radiated off of them.

I could feel Takeshi shaking as he held me tightly to him, like it was all he could do to restrain himself from ripping the men apart. I slid my arms around his waist, hugging him to me. "Thank you for saving me," I murmured into his chest soothingly. "It's over now. It's okay."

He picked me up, bridal style, and carried me away from the building, leaving the host club to handle the aftermath.

-Mori-

Everything scared me at that moment as I stood between Rikku and the men who had taken her. I was scared that I was going to lose it completely after seeing the blood dripping out of the corner of Rikku's mouth and the man with a gun pointed at her, explaining that it was just business. He was so cold and uncaring, like the girl who'd life he was about to take meant nothing in this world. Like she meant nothing to anyone else.

Even after everything that had happened, bad things that would shake a normal person into submission, she tried to make me feel better. She held me and told me that it was going to be okay. I couldn't believe it. She amazed me but that was one of the best things about Rikku, she was tough and you never knew what to expect.

Well, there was no way that I was letting her stay home or anywhere that I wasn't ever again. I got the okay from my parents to bring her home with me, which was great. I didn't want to let her go, if only to make it click in my head that she was alive and okay, safe in my arms.

I carried her back into my room once we'd arrived at my house and we laid down on my bed. She cuddled up next to me as close as possible and I held her tightly and securely in my arms.

"You're still shaking," Rikku said her voice heavy with worry, propping herself up to look at me, mostly leaning over me. "It's okay. It's all over."

I brushed my fingers lightly against her cheek, unable to think of anything to say to her. I didn't touch the hurt one, which was still slightly swollen and it was going to bruise which made me angry. "I failed," I told her, my voice thick and tight with pain.

"How?" she blinked, her head tilting cutely to the side, obviously confused.

"I pinky promised to protect you and I couldn't," I said, nearly choking on the admission of my failure. My heart hit the floor and I struggled for air and words. "I … I …"

"Listen to me, Takeshi," she said sitting on her knees, leaning closely to my face, placing her hands on either side. She pulled me up to her slightly, causing me to sit up on my elbows as she stared sincerely into my eyes. We were so close our foreheads were touching. "You. Saved. Me. I was going to die but you saved me."

I closed my eyes, shaking my head slightly. "No, I -"

"Takeshi Morinozuka!" she insisted fiercely. "You saved my life. I'm still here and I'm perfectly fine. I wouldn't have been without you."

I couldn't say anything to her. Once again, she'd struck me speechless from her determination and caring. There was almost no way to react to it.

She smiled at me, her green eyes big and bright, even in the darkness of the room. She leaned close to me and gave me a quick kiss. After, she laid back down, snuggling as close as possible again. I could still feel her shaking – she was still in panicking fear from what had happened yet, she just gave a speech on how she was completely fine and I was the one still freaking out. I didn't point it out though. I knew she had to be tired, after all, it had been a long night.

I just watched her, waiting until her breath got even and deep. Just to make sure that she was fine. Suddenly, I was looking forward to the day where this would happen every morning, which was coming a lot sooner than I expected.


	14. Chapter 14: One More Nightmare

**So, I know it's been a while since I posted a chapter.**

**I apologize for the wait but thank you for waiting patiently.**

**I now present to the next installment of Pinky Promises!**

**Please make sure to review. Thank you!**

A lot happened over the next couple of days. It was a whirlwind of plans being made and things changing like they always did. By the end of the week, Takeshi and I had moved into a nice upscale condo because there was no way that he was ever letting me stay alone again. It was just fine with me because being kidnapped made me want to be with other people a lot more. Also on the selling list was that one of Ootori Family's hospitals was only three blocks away. 

His parents were pretty cool about it. They even paid for the condo. It didn't take any time for us to move in and now, the hosts were throwing us a house warming party, which meant that they came over with every intent to rummage through all of our belongings and eat everything then leave a mess that Takeshi and I were going to have to clean up.

"Ri-chan," Honey whined. He had been the first to arrive and I hadn't had a chance to set anything out for him to eat. "Do you have cake?"

"Yes," I said, opening the top cabinet. Takeshi had suggested that we hide all of our cakes up there that way Honey wouldn't eat them as soon as he dashed through the door. I pulled a chair up so I could reach them. I pulled one out, thinking that it would be best to serve the cakes one at a time so that he would have cake the whole day. We must have bought nearly thirty cakes.

"Is that a strawberry cake?" Honey asked, his eyes getting wide.

"From the bakery down the street so I don't know what it tastes like," I told him, stepping off of the chair, landing with a slight thud.

"Then, let's eat it together, Ri-chan!" Honey suggested brightly, getting plates and forks out. "That way we will both know!"

I cut the cake, giving Honey a huge slice and then giving myself a not nearly as big but a hearty slice as well. We started eating. The cake was probably the best strawberry cake I'd ever tasted in my entire life, even better than the French kind that the host club usually served. From the glistening look in Honey's eyes, I could tell that he thought the same thing.

"Good cake?" Takeshi asked, entering the kitchen. He wore simple jeans and a designer shirt. It was red and blue. He looked way tougher than he really was. It wasn't that he was a wimp, he was one of the strongest fighters in the country – he was just a baby. A soft candy with a hard shell.

"It's strawberry so you wouldn't like it," I told him. Takeshi opened his mouth anyway. I put a bite in his mouth and he chewed it thoughtfully.

He shrugged. "That's good," he said, which proved how good the cake actually was.

The host club started showing up. The twins arriving first, toting grape juice and some sort of sweets. Tamaki arrived next, squishing me in a horrendous hug that cut off most of my air supply. Finally Kyoya arrived and we sat down in the dining room to eat.

"This is a very nice place Rikku and Mori-sempai," Kyoya said. "Very close to one of my families hospitals."

"That was the whole reason we picked it Kyoya-sempai," I said. "As often as I need medical attention we thought it would be convenient for there to be a hospital only three blocks away."

Kyoya chuckled and so did everyone else. The whole day was spent laughing and goofing around. There was also a lot of eating. By the time the host club went home, late that night, I felt like I was going to explode.

"Did you have fun today?" I asked Takeshi as we did the dishes together.

"Ah," he answered in his true Takeshi fashion. He was drying as I washed, idly staring at his hands. "You?"

"It was tons of fun," I said. "I love hanging out with the host club. Even if they are a bit of a handful at times."

He nodded in agreement. After we finished cleaning dishes we settled into the living room to watch TV. I snuggled into his lap, burying my face into his chest. I was really tired as new nightmares had begun to plague my brain. Takeshi tightened his grip a little around my waist, nuzzling his face into my hair.

"Are you okay?" he mumbled.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "I just have to think about something else for awhile."

I felt him kiss the top of my head, idly beginning to play with some of my hair. "I'm here. Don't be scared," he said.

I looked up at him, kissing his chin. "I couldn't ever be scared with you," I told him. "But … when I dream … I always wake up before you show up."

He kissed my lips lightly. "Dream me in faster then," he teased, smirking. "You need to sleep. We have school tomorrow."

I smiled at him, snuggling back down, my eyes drifting closed.

-Mori-

Rikku slept soundly, for the first time in weeks, in my arms. Her brown hair shaded her face a little and her mouth was parted slightly. I was glad that she was finally getting a little rest. Then, her face started contorting into a frown, her eyebrows drawing together. My arms reflexively tightened around her. 

"It's alright," I whispered to her. "I'm right here."

She wasn't awake. Her fingers tightened on my shirt, making tight fist causing her knuckles to go white. Her frowned deepened and she squeezed her eyes tighter. Then, as soon as it had came up, her face relaxed and she almost started smiling.

"Takeshi," she mumbled. She did that sometimes, talk in her sleep. Apparently, she'd taken my advice and dreamed me in faster.

I smiled to myself, tightening my arms around her again. I kissed the top of her head. "Way to go, Rikku." I congratulated her. Then, finally deciding that she was going to be fine for the night, I shut my eyes, aiming to get some sleep and have some dreams of my own.

-Rikku-

So the insanity, while far from over, was put to the side for the next week or so. Nothing really happened and everyone went about their lives, returning to our new form of normal. Yeah, life was pretty good and very calm but nothing with the host club ever stayed that way.

**This is a really short chapter and it kind of sucked but the next few chapters will be better. It's going to be fun. It'll all be fluff. Some of it will be inspired from the anime and some will be of my own creation. It'll be serious, funny, lovey dovey and there may even be a little bit of lemon! But, that last part will be decided by you guys! Tell me if you want a lemon between Mori and Rikku! **

**Thanks again for sticking with me so far! I couldn't do it without you! Thank you very much!**


	15. Chapter 15: School of Terror?

**Okay. Round one of a misadventure chapter!**

**I hope everyone likes. This is inspired from the anime!**

**Once again, thanks for sticking with me so far, especially after that sad little chapter I'd just posted. Sorry about that.**

**THANKS! PLEASE REVIEW!**

"Class 2 – A is sponsoring a Haunted School instead of having a normal party," Hikaru explained, showing the paper to Tamaki after we'd entered the host clubroom.

"It's going to be a total blast!" Kaoru agreed, his voice just as grand as his twin's. I on the other hand wasn't nearly so excited.

"A midnight tournament?" Tamaki cried melodramatically. "Daddy will not allow his precious daughter to be in the dark school alone with the Devil Twins!" He latched onto me, squeezing me way too tight. I struggled to free myself from his grasp.

The twins grabbed onto my arms and began pulling, like they were trying to help me out but they weren't. They were telling Tamaki that I was going to be fine in their "capable" hands. They were trying and succeeding in pestering our president. I was going to die from air loss before I received the heart attack at the haunted school.

Thankfully, before Tamaki could completely smother me to death, Takeshi interceded and pulled me out of the middle of the madness. I used his arm for support as I caught my breath, a hand over my chest. I looked at him miserably.

"If it wasn't mandatory, I wouldn't go," I told my boyfriend slowly, sounding like a little kid. He knew that I had a problem with anything all things dark and scarey, which was why I tended to run whenever I saw the Black Magic Club's president Nekozowa lurking around in the corner. He scared the living crap out of me. "We've already picked teams and everything. I'm with the twins and our class rep."

Takeshi patted the top of my head reassuringly. He had much more confidence in my nonexistent courage than I did. Then again, he always had faith in me.

"Which ever team runs out screaming first is going to be published on the school newspaper's front page," the twins explained, giving me their patented devil grins. They weren't the same as Kyoya's. They had more playful malice, rather actual demonic auras.

That was the worst news I'd ever heard. That meant that there was no way that the twins were going to let me run away or hide out somewhere else while they did all the work. They weren't ones who lost games nicely. I knew that they'd lose their minds if we got put on the cover of the newspaper as the biggest chickens in 2-A. They didn't know that I was afraid of haunted houses, of course. I could put on a pretty good face but I was almost positive that I wouldn't be able to make it through the whole night being scared out of my wits by my classmates. Especially with our spazy and paranoid Class Rep freaking out in my ear the whole time. This wasn't going to be any fun at all.

"I don't wanna do it," I pouted. Takeshi just patted my head again.

The Class Rep was a total mess, shaking and whimpering behind me. He was freaking me out, making me wish I could've faked a sickness or something. The twins weren't helping either of us by telling an elaborate scarey story about a woman haunting the school after her brutal murder on Halloween in the clock tower. It was all I could do to not run out screaming. They were very good at telling stories.

"C'mon guys cut it out," I told them, glad my voice wasn't shaking but I did kind of sound like I was pleading with them. I basically was. "He's already freaked out enough." And so was I. I was practically shaking in my shoes.

That's when we heard something falling down the stairs, a dull click clanking sound, kind of like when you snapped your teeth together really hard. Everyone jumped when it hit the last step and a skull bounced into our view. The class rep screamed and nearly fainted. So did I.

"That's not fair!" Kaoru cried, sounding very insulted.

"It's our turn to scare!" Hikaru agreed, kicking the human skull back up the stairs. It's ricocheted all the way up. It was quiet for a moment. None of us moved. I didn't even breathe.

Then there were foot steps, faint at first but then someone came into view. I thought that the Class Rep was going to die. I thought I was going to die when the zombie ghostly figure turned toward us, looking very infuriated and very DEAD!

"Who kicked my skull?" she demanded in a strangled voice, cocking her head back to the side.

That was all it took. We screamed and like that, we were gone. I took off at a dead run, thinking that everyone was behind me, not that I looked back to check. I didn't care to see that woman again. I was looking for anywhere to hide, checking the first door I came too. That's where I ran into Frankenstein who resembled someone I knew but I wasn't stopping to ask questions. I screamed and fell back onto my butt, landing very hard. Hikaru grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to my feet and we kept sprinting, looking for some sort of safety.

Then, I tripped over a rope, that seemed to come from nowhere, and we got caught in a net that jerked us up in the air about five to ten feet. What an awkward position. What a horrible night.

"R – Rikku, are you okay?" Hikaru gasped, trying to shift his weight around.

It was impossible to get into a less awkward position, no matter how hard we struggled. I struggled to lift myself up, which wasn't very easy. I had to get to something sharp to cut the rope but I didn't happen to carry anything that could potentially hurt me.

"I – I'm fine," now I was openly freaking out. I didn't even care if Hikaru thought that I was a little baby chicken. I was and that was that. "This was a dumb idea. You wouldn't happen to have a knife on you would you?"

"Um, no."

Great. Now we were stuck in here, in that stupid net. I wanted to get out of this mess. I wanted to go home and crawl in bed next to Takeshi and try to forget that this ever happened. Tears stung at my eyes despite my best efforts.

"H – Hey," Hikaru gasped, giving me a slightly worried, slightly fearful look. "You're not hurt are you?"

"No," I sobbed slightly, wiping my face with the hand that wasn't supporting my weight. "I just wanna go home. I'm tired of being scared."

Hikaru gave me a look. "W – Well," he stammered. "We need to cut this rope so we can get out of here but I don't have anything sharp enough. Maybe we should just chew through it," he said, his voice trying to be light.

I knew that he was kidding but that actually sounded like a good idea. The rope wasn't very thick. I bet it would work. It would just take a little time and then I'd be home free and away from this nightmare.

"There's no need for that," came a familiar deep voice but when I looked it wasn't my big but gentle boyfriend. It was Frankenstein. For a moment I panicked but then I realized that it really was Takeshi. He just had costume make up on.

"T – Takeshi," I stammered, staring wide eyed at him.

"M – Mori – sempai," Hikaru choked.

Takeshi came up and cut us free, only needing to cut a single line to open it up. I flew out of the net and into his arms. Wow. I never felt so safe and relieved to see him since I had been kidnapped. I hugged him as tight as I could, willing my heart to stop attempting to beat it's way out of my chest. Takeshi held me safely in his arms, patiently waiting until I calmed down.

Suddenly, I realized that something was and had been missing from this whole scene. "Hey Hikaru," I said, straining to see my red headed friend. "Where's Kaoru and the class rep?"

His golden eyes got wide and he looked around wildly. Apparently he'd been too freaked out to notice that his twin was missing too. "K – Kaoru?" he stammered, running back the way we'd came.

I jumped out of Takeshi's arms and chased after him. Takeshi followed me. Hikaru was suddenly a lot faster than when we were running in absolute fear or maybe I was a lot slower but I doubted that. Which led me to believe that he just followed me out of reaction. I suddenly realized that the only thing that he was scared of was being without Kaoru – which was sweet in a twisted way. I wondered how they would function once they grew up.

We eventually found both Kaoru and the class rep, hiding out in a room. The class rep, while completely beside himself, was glad that the whole thing was over. We figured out that we'd pretty much lost the whole game, which totally irritated the twins. So we went back to the meeting place, figuring there wasn't anything better for us to do. All of the other teams were giving us angry looks, like we'd done something wrong.

"Where have you guys been?" Renge demanded.

We hadn't figured out how to respond. Takeshi, before leaving, had told us that the Host club and Nekozowa had been the source of our terror, not the other teams. We couldn't think of a good excuse for our sudden panic and fleeing.

Suddenly, all of the candles in the pumpkins and the lights overhead went out, leaving us in mostly darkness. I jumped, giving a slight scream, bumping into both of the twins, sending us falling to the ground. We handed on our butts with a collective grunt. A giant shadow was cast over the entire area, blocking out what was left of the light. Everyone present, especially the twins, Class Rep, and I - who's nerves were already shot - screamed at the top of their lungs and ran away like some psycho killer was after us. That was how I pretty much treated it.

There was no way that some crazy was going to get me. Nope. I was going home. It was too much for one night.

"Why am I not surprised that it was Tamaki's idea?" I sighed shaking my head after Takeshi finished telling me everything.

We were cuddled up on our couch, the TV turned down low so it would be background noise. Even though it was four o' clock in the morning, we found sleep impossible. Well, I did so Takeshi dutifully stayed up with me. He was cool like that.

"That was the scariest night of my life," I continued, glad that it was over. "And that last shadow was Belziaph?"

"Ah," which was Takeshi language for yes.

I jumped up, giving Takeshi a determined look. "I'm going to get those two back big time for that! Just wait! They've got it coming!"

Takeshi gave a soft chuckle and pulled me to sit on his lap. He wrapped his arms around me and held me close, burying his face in my hair.

"T – Takeshi?" I stammered.

"Let's skip school today," he murmured into my hair. It wasn't like Takeshi to want to skip school because Honey wouldn't be able to survive on his own. "Or at least most of it."

I smiled to myself. I snuggled deeper into his chest, closing my eyes. "Okay. Sounds good to me."

I looked up at him and my lips found his. Just because Takeshi was letting me skip a little school didn't mean that Tamaki and Nekozowa got off easy. I got them the next day good – with some help from the twins and the Devil Man himself.

**I hope everyone likes this! Two chapters in one day!**


	16. Chapter 16: Crashed

**This is going to be two or more parts. I hope everyone likes.**

**No one has told me if they want a MorixRikku Lemon. I need opinions!**

**REVIEW!**

How did this happen?

The thought kept cycling through my brain as I stared at the ceiling of yet another hospital. My leg had a heavy green cast on it, I had over thirty new stitches, and a major headache. I was one of the ones in the best shape, thought I wasn't aware of the fate of everyone else, besides Honey, who was in the hospital bed next to me. He had a broken arm, concussion, and a giant gash up his thigh. He was staring at the ceiling too.

I sighed heavily, draping an arm over my eyes trying to block out the burning light, thinking back to before all of this madness. Before we'd been hit by that truck. Before I found myself in another solid uncomfortable bed. Before of all of this, when Tamaki and the rest of the host club showed up at the door of mine and Takeshi's condo.

* * *

"We're going to the beach today!" Tamaki said a little too loudly for the time being so early on a weekend. He'd already managed to pull not only Takeshi and I from our sleep but Honey, who'd spent the night at our house, Kyoya, who looked a lot less than thrilled, and the twins, who were naturally, full of energy.

"Hm?" I grunted at the boys, rubbing my eyes and stretching a little. I still wasn't completely awake. "That's fantastic. I'm going to bed. See ya."

I started to stalk back off to bed when Tamaki tackled me in a tight hug, nearly sending us both to the floor.

"You're coming too, Rikku!" he cried, squeezing all of the air out of me. "You and Daddy are gonna spend all day with each other at the beach!"

I sighed giving Takeshi a help me look. He just shrugged, not really seeming to care. _Way to be a helper babe, _I thought, giving him a look. "Fine," I sighed. "But we're going to have to stop by Honey's house. He isn't prepared for a day at the beach."

That just made Tamaki's life. So, Takeshi and I changed clothes and we headed out for Honey's house first and then onto the beach. It seemed pretty normal, pretty carefree, like the rest of the Host Club activities.

When we left Honey's house though, it all changed in a heartbeat … maybe two.

All of us were in Tamaki's limo, not unusual to me anymore. We were laughing, happily chatting away about what we wanted to do at the beach, no longer tired or irritated from being woken up at such an early hour. The next thing I knew, Takeshi had pinned himself over me and Honey.

There was screaming, the sound of crushing metal, bone, and agonizing screeching of tires. There was an intense pain in my leg, making my head spin and me cry out, and something went whizzing just millimeters from my nose. Honey went limp underneath me. I couldn't make sense of anything, my whole world fading in and out. I heard crying and groans. I couldn't move and everything that I did made my leg hurt worse and it felt like it was stuck, not that I could've gotten out of my predicament. Takeshi was crushing me down. My world went fuzzy, nothing made sense. I couldn't figure out what happened. Sirens blared against my eardrums and I passed out.

When I woke, finally, I was in the ambulance on my way to the hospital. Now, after a bunch of fussing and fighting, I was in the hospital bed, anxiously awaiting any news about my friends and boyfriend but it didn't seem like anyone wanted to tell me anything, no matter how much I pleaded.

"Ri – chan," came Honey's small voice from beside me. "Do you think that everyone will be okay?"

I looked at him, slightly raising my eyebrows. "Of course Honey," I said firmly and confidently. "Everyone will be fine. They're all too stubborn to go down like this."

I hoped that I wasn't a liar. A few more moments passed. I wondered why none of our parents, well, I didn't have any parents but Honey did and so did the rest of the host club, I wondered why they hadn't been notified and if they had, where they were. I knew Honey's parents and Takeshi's parents well enough to know that they would kick down as many doors as necessary to get to their kids. The same for the Hitachiins. Kyoya's father on the other hand, would probably send his hen pecking sister and Tamaki's father _might _show up but that may have been a stretch for even him.

"Miss Samato?" a doctor said entering, followed by a nurse. "Mr Honinozuka?"

I gave him a nod. Honey sat up a little straighter and I tried to do the same but my cast made it slightly difficult to do so.

"About your friends, Mr Ootori will be fine. He had a minor skull fracture, a crushed right arm and four broken right ribs so he'll be in a cast for a little while. One of the Hitachiins, Kaoru, punctured his lung but we managed to fix that. He had to receive fifty two stitches along his abdomen and arm. His twin, Hikaru, had some serious internal damage and is still unconscious but we are expecting him to make a full recovery and he should be waking up at anytime. He also had two broken fingers, three cracked ribs and a broken wrist. Mr. Suoh was a little closer to the point of impact. He tore some ligaments in his knee, broke most of his rib cage, and is currently in a coma. And Takeshi Morinozuka, I understand that he is Mr. Honinozuka's cousin and your, erm, boyfriend, correct?"

"Yes," I said.

"He, well, I don't know what exactly happened in the accident but he took quite a beating." the doctor admitted sheepishly. "He had a skull fracture, broken shoulder, arm, wrist, and hand. He even cracked his pelvis and had some internal damage. He's in a coma but we put him in one. He's in too much pain to be awake. He also had a very large piece of metal buried in his leg."

"But he is going to be okay? Right?" I croaked around the sizable lump in my throat.

The doctor nodded. "From this moment, he's going to be fine as long as nothing happens."

"What about our parents?" I asked. "Did you call them?"

"As of yet, no," he told me. "We've been focusing on this accident. You two got very lucky you know. From where you were sitting, we expected you both to be dead."

_It's because Takeshi protected us, _I thought but I didn't say it out loud. I closed my eyes for a moment before saying anything else. "Can you call them?"

"Do you have their phone numbers?"

I looked around, seeing my cell phone on the in-table beside me. "In there," I told him, unable to reach it. "Give some paper and I'll write them down for you."

"Thank you." he said handing me his clipboard once he removed the files.

I ignored it. I wrote down all the names and numbers and some spare instructions. It looked like this:

Yosito Ootori: 555 – 1234

Fuyumi Ootori: 555- 3959 (Probably should call her and have her bring Kyoya his lap top. So he can stay on top of things)

Mr. and Mrs. Hitachiin: 555 – 1657 (Have them bring Kaoru and Hikaru's knitting stuff. They'll be bored without it.)

Mr. and Ms. Honinozuka: 555 – 2938 (Bring Usa or Honey will have a panic attack)

Mr. and Mrs. Morinozuka: 555 – 2960 (ask them to make sure that Satoshi comes along so he doesn't worry about Takeshi too much)

Mr. Suoh: 555 – 8490 (Tell him that he better come or I'll go get him)

I hoped they were right. If it'd been Kyoya's cell phone, I wouldn't have a doubt but it wasn't his. It was mine. I gave the paper to the nurse and she scanned over it.

"I don't see your parent's number on here Miss Samato," she said, apparently thinking that I forgot to write it down or something.

"I don't have any. They died when I was little," I told her nonchalant. It didn't bother me to say it anymore. It was an unchanging truth that I was just going to have to live with.

"Oh," she said but didn't offer an condolences. I didn't need them anyway. I'd be fine as long as Takeshi's parents showed up.

"There's instructions on there for a couple of the parents, make sure they get those."

"Of course."

She left and I smirked, closing my eyes. I heard Honey moving and I peeked out of the edge of my eyes to see what he was doing. He was struggling to lift himself out of bed and onto his feet.

"Honey! You can't get up! Stay in bed!" I said to him loudly but not yelling. I sat up straighter.

He looked at me, his eyes super big and full of tears. I thought it was from pain at first but then he started speaking.

"I wanna sleep with you, Ri – chan," he half sobbed, his bottom lip quivering. "I don't have Usa – chan here or anything and I don't wanna be in bed by myself."

"You can't walk with your stitches in," I told him firmly. "You'll tear it right back open and it'll hurt."

"B – but," he stammered, sniffling even more.

I sighed. I wasn't hooked up to any machines nor was he, but I couldn't hobble over there with my cast on. I could barely lift my leg. I didn't want Honey to burst into tears, because I was a sucker, just like Takeshi, for my Lolita senior.

"I don't care," he said defiantly, swinging his legs over the edge of his bed.

"Honey!" I cried, watching him half hop, half drag his bad leg, over to my bed. I quickly scooted over so he could climb in with me. When got his mind set on something he wouldn't change it.

"Ri – chan," he said staring at the ceiling after he'd safely snuggled in beside me. "If everyone is going to be okay, then why am I so scared?"

I didn't have an answer to that one. He always asked me hard questions with his childish innocence and while it was cute when he did it to Takeshi, it wasn't so adorable when he did it to me. "You're probably still freaked out from the crash, Honey," I told him after a quiet moment. "Maybe we should try to sleep a little."

"Okay. I'll be able to sleep and so will you since we're sharing the bed. We'll both feel safe, right?" he asked, his doe eyes on me. I wanted to hug him so bad but I didn't.

"Right," I smiled at him.

Then, we fell asleep.

-Mr. Morinozuka-

I entered the room with my wife and son, followed by my cousins, and smiled at what I saw. My son's long time girlfriend, Rikku, and my cousin Mitskuni were curled up in the same bed, sleeping soundly, looking like angels. Rikku had a cast that went up to just above her knee cap, some bandages, no doubt covering yet more stitches for the girl, on her arms and side of her face. Mitskuni had a little blue cast that went to almost his elbow, and had a bandage wrapping around and going all the way down his left thigh, which was visible past his shorts. They'd been on their way to the beach so both of them had been dressed for a day of fun in the sun.

"Should we wake them?" Mitskuni's mother, Seirin, asked. She had her son's bunny in her hands as per Rikku's instructions.

"Probably," I sighed, reaching down, hesitantly, to wake my future daughter-in-law. From experience with my cousin's son, I knew the hazards to waking a innocent looking child. Takeshi had also warned me against waking her up once when they stayed with us during an out of the country trip. "Rikku?"

Her eyes flickered a little, opening a little to reveal the bright emerald orbs. "Haido – san?" she breathed out, sleepily. She nudged Mitskuni next to her. She sat up a little, rubbing her eyes cutely. She gave a small yawn and stretch.

Mitskuni also, woke, seeing his parents, he instantly perked up to full alertness. "Hey!" he said brightly.

"Here son," his dad said giving the blonde child the stuffed bunny. Mitskuni held it closely to his chest like he was clinging for comfort.

"Have you seen, Takeshi?" Rikku asked, her round green eyes settling on me.

"Not yet," I answered. Those eyes worked like a sucker punch. "They told us that he was in a coma for now so we wanted to see you first since you're both awake."

I had a feeling like I did something wrong, not that Rikku would ever say that to me. She wasn't much on scolding. Instead she said, "Can we leave? We haven't gotten to see anyone since the accident. I'm tired of being stuck in here."

It was no secret that Rikku hated hospitals. After spending so much time in one nearly six months ago, she tried to avoid them and I knew that she was extremely uncomfortable but there wasn't anything that I could do to fix it until the doctors released her into our care.

"I think that will be allowable," my wife said calmly. She adored Rikku. She'd always wanted a daughter.

"I wouldn't care if it wasn't," she grumbled in a very out of character fashion, looking around for something. Then it hit me, the kid needed crutches to walk. Mitskuni would need them but he'd have his stitches long gone before he got the cast taken off. Most likely, he'd be in a wheelchair or just carried for a week.

"I'll carry you," Satoshi spoke up. I'd almost forgotten that my youngest son was there. "To see my brother."

-Rikku-

Satoshi was cool. He wasn't like Honey's little demon brother Yasuchika. He liked Takeshi and me and he wasn't a totally uptight scarey guy. If anything, he gave off a much nicer air than his older brother. He was a lot softer and he dealt with all of Yasuchika's crap, which was more than I was willing to do.

He carried me on his back to Takeshi's room, being fairly strong and already six inches taller than me. Honey's father carried him. To say that the Honinozuka and the Morinozuka families were close was an understatement. They were more than that. Whenever Takeshi had to go out of town and I couldn't go, they always let me stay at their place so I wouldn't be left alone. Takeshi's parents never said one mean thing to me or about me. Takeshi's mom loved taking me with her to do stuff but I figured that might mostly be because she never had a daughter to spoil.

Takeshi didn't really look like he was in a whole lot of pain. His face was calm, like normal. Minus the major bruising and tubes and wires, you'd think that he was asleep. I didn't think comas were in the same category as sleep because when I woke up from mine, I was tired.

"The doctors said it would be a week before they could take him out of the coma," his mom told me. "That way, most of the pain would be gone and they won't have to give him high amounts of morphine."

That was good news. I knew his life wasn't exactly in danger but I was still close to a panic attack. If he hadn't been stupid and protected me and Honey he wouldn't be in such bad shape. Dang it. Why did I have to pick the most selfless, thoughtful guy in the entire world?

"Takeshi," Honey half sobbed as his father carried him into the room.

"You heard the doctor, Honey," I said giving him my host club smile. "Takeshi's going to fine. He's just going to hurt for a little while. Everything will be fine okay?"

I suddenly hit me that while Takeshi may have been in a chemically induced coma, Tamaki was not. He was just in one and that wasn't a good situation. Damn this broken leg.

"What's wrong, Rikku?" Takeshi's mother asked apparently noticing my expression.

I looked at her. "The rest of the club. Tamaki is in a coma – naturally. Not like Takeshi. I haven't seen any of them. I was just suddenly wondering if they were all okay. Do you think that you could ask the doctors to get me some crutches so I can move around?"

A week seemed like an eternity in that stupid hospital. After a while, I couldn't even smell the hospitally smell anymore. I could've went home at anytime but I really didn't want to. I didn't want to stay home without Takeshi there and I didn't want Tamaki or Takeshi to possibly wake up alone. The rest of the host club took shifts with me, like they had when I was the one in the coma. I always took the night shift, going back and forth between Takeshi and Tamaki out of pure nervousness.

"Rikku, you need to go home," Takeshi's mom told me for nearly the fortieth time since she'd came. "You look a mess child. You're running yourself ragged."

"I'm fine," I mumbled, rubbing my eyes. In truth, I was exhausted from hobbling back and forth across the hospital, not sleeping properly, or eating properly. I didn't even want to know what I looked like. "I swear."

Takeshi's mother wasn't buying that. I wasn't very convincing to be honest. The deep darkening bags under my eyes and paleness of my face were proof of that. I couldn't have lied to a blind man.

"Nonsense," she said, shaking her head in disapproval. "You need to go home to get proper rest. Sleeping in the hospital chair doesn't give you that.. The boys will be fine."

"But -" I began helplessly but Honey cut me off.

"I'll take her home," he offered. "Me and Kyo – chan will so we make sure that she goes to bed all the way. Promise."

I looked at Honey and Kyoya, giving them the Devil Man's patented glare, while it was a lot weaker than Kyoya's. They didn't seem effected by it. They knew I couldn't take them, especially in a leg cast.

"Thank you Mitskuni," she said, helping me to my feet. "See you tomorrow Rikku and not a minute before."

That meant that I'd have to be at home all night. I sighed and crutched out of the building. Kyoya helped me into the limo and we settled in. I hadn't been in a car since the accident and I found it a lot harder to ride than I thought it would be.

Finally, we made it to mine and Takeshi's condo. Kyoya and Honey helped me to climb the stairs and I fumbled for my keys. I'd never been in the condo really without Takeshi there. I unlocked the door and we entered.

Our condo was nothing huge, since it was just the two of us. It was two bedrooms, two bathrooms, large living room, large kitchen – that we never used since neither of us could cook very well but I did try – and a medium sized dining room that usually served as a place to lock the host club up in when they invaded.

"I'm going to find something for us to eat," Kyoya informed me.

"Check the fridge," I told him, scooting off. "Honey, there's a cake for you in the cabinet that should be still good. You can eat it if you want."

He didn't need any coaxing, I had him at "cake". At least he still had his normal appetite.

I went to my room and grabbed some clothes, awkwardly carrying them as I went to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror, instantly I was glad that Takeshi hadn't seen me in the state I was in. My short brown hair was a total mess and my emerald eyes were puffy and droopy from not sleeping well. I was smelling a little fresh too.

I turned on the bath. I didn't fill too full since I couldn't get my cast wet. It was awkward enough to get into the bath and I knew that getting out was going to be a task by myself. I just soaked for a while, letting the warm water soak into my muscles and relax them. I felt the pain just leave a little. After a while, I cleaned my hair and the rest of me and barely managed to pull myself out of the tub, without breaking something else. I toweled off and pulled on some comfortable clothes. A pair of short shorts and one of Takeshi's t-shirts. The shirt went well past my shorts so I slightly tucked into the front which was how I usually wore my clothes.

I rubbed the towel over my head, drying my hair, sitting on the counter, feeling very tired. Someone knocked on the door lightly.

"Rikku?" Kyoya's voice called.

"Doors open, I'm decent," I told him.

The door came open slowly and Kyoya cautiously stuck his head in. "Are you okay?" he asked, entering more completely after confirming that I was in fact decent.

"Yeah," I told him slowly, not believing it myself.

"Dinner is going to be here soon. I ordered take out," he informed me. "And Honey – sempai is beginning to rip apart your kitchen in search for more cake."

I hopped off the counter, tossing my towel to the side, and put my crutches under my arms. Kyoya followed me out.

"Ri – chan, do you have anymore cake?" Honey asked. He was standing in a chair to see to the high shelf of the cabinet, which was where Takeshi and I usually stored the cakes when Honey came over. Of course, he wasn't going to find any. "I finished the one that you had."

I sighed. "No, Honey, we don't," I said. "I'll order some from the bakery down the street. Stop tearing my kitchen apart and get out of that chair and put it back where it was."

"Okay!" he said brightly. He did as I asked. There was one thing that wouldn't ever change. Honey would always love his cake.

I picked my cell phone up off the counter, scowling slightly seeing that the battery was almost dead. I'd been grateful that it had survived as long as it had but I had kept it off most of the time. I dialed the number for the bakery and asked for my usual order: thirty strawberry cakes. I must have made them wonder what I did with all of them.

I hobbled over to my charger, which was conveniently not located in my bedroom so I could ignore Tamaki's ungodly early morning calls, and plugged my phone in. I sat it on the in table, straightening up slowly.

"Um," I said thoughtfully, frowning. I needed something for the pain in my leg. I knew that I didn't have any pain killers just handy though.

"Is something wrong, Rikku?" Kyoya asked. I hadn't heard him enter but then again, I never heard the Devil Man come around.

I stared at my phone, almost like I was expecting to ring and Takeshi be on the other end of the line telling me that he was perfectly fine. I knew that wouldn't happen.

"I need something for the pain in my leg," I said. "But we don't have anything here. I think I left the pills in Takeshi's room."

I heard the shaking of pills in a bottle and turned. Kyoya had the bottle in his hand, giving me his Devil Man smirk. Yep, the Shadow King struck again. He thought of everything.

"Sit down. I'll bring you some water to take these with."

I obeyed like a good little girl. It felt really good to be off those crutches, it was a real strain on the armpits and I had some major bruises but I was going to have some great upper body strength by the time this was all done. My whole body was so tired that it almost hurt to relax. Kyoya came back in and gave me a cup of water and the pills. Without objection, I swallowed them down. The devil man patted my head, giving me a slight smile.

"Thank you," I said sheepishly. "For everything."

"No problem," he said. "Try to rest. That should help."

I nodded. Before the food even came, I was out, happily.

**Thanks for reading! I know it was longer than normal. I'll try to get pt 2 posted as soon as possible! Please REVIEW!**


	17. Chapter 17: Crashed Finale

**Part two! **

**Okay, so I got one review telling me that lemons would be appreciated. I guess I'm going to go with it then, since apparently, no one has any objections.**

**Thanks for all of your support by making this one of my most favorited stories!**

**Please make sure to review so maybe we can break my review record!**

I slept hard, not realizing exactly how tired I had been. I woke, covered with a blanket and a pillow resting under my head. My broken leg hung off the side of the bed and I almost felt worse than when I went to sleep. I stretched, groaning a little and then draped an arm across my eyes, debating on going back to sleep.

"How do you feel Rikku?" Kyoya asked suddenly, giving me a start.

I opened my eyes, which were so heavy with sleep that everything was blurry. He apparently had slept on the other couch.

"You could've stayed in the guest room," I told him sleepily.

"Honey-sempai did. How do you feel?" He wasn't going to let that question go.

"Still really sleepy but better," I said, sitting up a little. I rubbed my eyes with my fists, trying to clear up their view. "Anything on Tamaki-sempai or Takeshi?"

"No," he answered, shifting his glasses around on his face. "We saved your food from last night. It's in the refrigerator if you're interested."

"Not at the moment," I said slowly. I wanted to curl back up in a little ball and sleep some more. I figured Kyoya knew that.

"You two," he sighed, shaking his head. "Perfect."

"What?" I asked. That wasn't the type of thing that the Shadow King said often or the tone I was used to hearing him use.

"You kind of remind me of Mori-sempai when you were in the hospital. He was even more silent than usual," he explained. "He had the same look as you do. Kind of like his arm got chopped off. Not that I blame him. It was a very scarey situation. I promise though, he'll be fine."

"And Tamaki-semapai?" I asked. "You kind of feel the same way."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "I'm not sure that I know what you mean."

I sat up completely. "You and Tamaki-sempai are like best friends," I explained. "No matter how much you act like he makes you mad, you guys are really best friends. You'd miss him a lot if he died."

There was a silent moment. Kyoya opened his mouth but before a sound came out my cell phone rang. I reached over and picked it up.

"Hello?" I said.

"Rikku?" It was Takeshi's mom. "He's awake."

I broke into a grin. I couldn't help it. "Kyoya, can you call your driver? Takeshi's awake. I'm going to wake up Honey."

"Certainly."

I got up, grabbing my crutches, and headed to the guest room. Honey was sleeping soundly. I walked over, remembering the warnings about waking him up incorrectly. I reached out and shook him lightly.

"Honey," I said. "Takeshi's awake. C'mon. We're going to the hospital."

That woke him up. He was up out of bed and changed before I could really comprehend that he was awake.

"Let's go Ri-chan!" he said happily.

We finally arrived at the hospital and went to Takeshi's room. I could barely contain myself. We went in and there he was. Completely alert, sitting up in bed. Honey and I nearly killed him in a hug. He grunted. I forgot that he was still broken.

"Sorry," I said, attempting to push away from him but he gripped onto my elbows, hugging me back. After a moment, he released me and I sat in the chair. "How do you feel?"

"Better," he answered. He still wasn't a talker. Not even a comma would change that. "What … happened?"

"They said that him not being able to remember what happened would be normal," Takeshi's mom said from behind me. "The drugs..."

"We were in a car accident," Honey said slowly. "And you got really hurt. Everyone got hurt but you and Tama-chan got hurt the worst."

"You were in a coma for a week," I told him. "And Tamaki-sempai is still in one." I'd scold him later about nearly getting himself crunched by protecting us, when Honey wasn't around. He wouldn't need to hear that.

Takeshi looked thoughtful as always. We sat in silence for a moment. I was suddenly very glad that his mom had forced me home. I at least looked mostly presentable. He would've went into a real coma if he'd woken up to me yesterday.

"But you're fine?" he finally asked.

I blinked at him. "Of course we're fine. Weren't you listening? You're the one that got hurt. You and Tamaki-sempai."

He sighed, in relief, giving his mom a look. She nodded.

"Honey, why don't we give them a moment, okay?" she said, reaching out for the Lolita. "Takeshi and Rikku need to talk."

He looked between us like a confused child being told that mommy and daddy needed to leave. Finally, he left with his cousin. I didn't say anything for a moment.

"You scared me," I finally told him. I put my head in my hands. "I thought I was going to lose you. You shouldn't have protected us and now you're hurt."

He didn't say anything. I looked up at him. He looked thoughtful and slightly pained. I felt bad but I had to say it. I was worn completely thin. I was more than grateful that he risked his life to save Honey and I but I couldn't imagine life without him.

"You could've died," I continued. I was trying not to cry. I always tried to be strong in front of everyone. Takeshi had only seen me cry one or two times. Even after my kidnapping. I tried to be strong. I was strong but I didn't feel so strong suddenly. Tears burned at my eyes and a lump grew in my throat.

Still Takeshi didn't say anything. Almost like he was waiting for something. I coughed, trying to get passed the lump but words couldn't form around it. I simply stared at him but it was like we were having a whole conversation. Takeshi was like that all the time. You had to interpret a lot of his looks, since he didn't talk. I liked it.

He reached out and took my hand. "I love you," he said simply. "And I'd do it again."

That was it. The tears came. I couldn't stop them. Takeshi let me crawl into bed with him and cry for a while. It didn't last long. Long enough for me to cry myself out. He just held me and let me cry. Once I'd calmed down we sat in another comfortable silence. He ran his fingers through my hair.

"How's your leg?" he finally asked.

I looked at the cast. It had the twins signatures, detailed drawings, as well as Honey's and Kyoya's names on it. "It'll heal. I was trying to wait until you woke up before I let anyone sign it but the twins cornered me and then everyone just joined in."

Takeshi produced a marker from the table next to us. Honey must've left it. It seemed like the type of thing that he would do.

"No looking," he said. So I closed my eyes and waited for him to finish coloring my cast. "Open."

I opened my eyes. Takeshi should've been in art class. It was a beautiful flower and on the ribbons around the rose, were out names.

He kissed my head. "I'll love you till it dies," Takeshi whispered, kissing my head. I kissed him back harder. We kissed for only a little while because Takeshi was still healing.

"GUYS!" the twins screamed, barreling into the room. "The king has awoken! He's up!"

"Yay!" Honey cheered. "Tama-chan is awake!"

"That's great! How's he doing?" I asked.

"Demanding to see all of us!" The twins announced grandly. "He wants to everyone!"

"Takeshi can't leave his bed," I told them. "At least until his pelvis heals up."

"We'll c'mon Rikku!" Kaoru said, grabbing my arm.

"You can come and tell him how okay Mori-sempai is!" Hikaru said grabbing my other arm.

"We'll carry you there!"

"Stop it guys," I said grabbing my crutches. "I can get myself around. I'll be right back," I told Takeshi, smiling. "I love you." I kissed him.

"I love you too," he said.

With that, we crutched off to Tamaki's room. He was sitting up straight, completely awake and back to his usual self.

"RI-CHAN! Daddy was worried when he woke up and you weren't here!" he said from the bed. "How are you? Did everyone take good care of you?"

"I'm fine, Tamaki-sempai," I said. "Just a broken leg. Takeshi just woke up from his coma too. Now everyone's all better."

He laughed. "Another great experience for the host club!"

Later that night, after everything was said and done and release dates were set for each of the boys I settled in for one more night at the hospital, this time, I was locked safely in Takeshi's arms.

"I was so scared," I told him.

He grunted and held me tighter. "I could hear sometimes. I just couldn't wake up. I wanted to make sure you were okay but I couldn't make it past the surface and then, my mom."

"What did she say?" I asked.

"She yelled at me. She told me that you were suffering so bad and you weren't sleeping and eating properly. She said that I need to wake up before you killed yourself. So I made myself get up. I didn't want you hurt and I didn't want to make you suffer."

"I would've suffered forever for you," I told him. "I didn't want to give up and I felt that if I left you or Tamaki then I'd lose you forever and I couldn't take that."

"I'm not going anywhere," he promised, his arms tightening around me. "I love you Rikku. Now, get some rest, before you die of exhaustion."

I smiled and happily did what he told me to. I fell asleep shortly after.

Days went by after that. Takeshi and Tamaki were both released from the hospital and summer was spent pretty docile for a while. Once everyone's wounds healed up, it was back to the crazy host club antics. But that was our crazy life.

**Ending was bad. It was late. I'll do better. It's late here. So I'm going to go to bed before my brain melts out of my ears. Thank you for reading! MAKE SURE TO REVIEW~~**


	18. Chapter 18: The Final Ball

**Okay. This is the next to last chapter.  
I was hoping to make it go a little longer but I don't think that's going to happen.  
Haha. If I get more inspiration, I'll post them somewhere.  
Thank you for sticking with me for so long.  
Please make sure to REVIEW!**

Everything was changing again. It had been nearly three years since my attack and the accident. It was graduation day for the twins and I. The last month had been full of parties and preparation. It was a big fanfare, graduation was. 

"One last picture!" Hikaru and Kaoru's mom said as we stood in our caps and gowns. We had to have taken a million pictures that day already but I couldn't keep the grin off of my face anyway. The Host Club gathered around, smiling hugely.

She snapped the pictures, at least a dozen, and we formed a circle, standing close together. I could barely believe that my high school career was over. It was amazing how fast time went by. So much had happened, it was hard to believe. Everything was so different than where I started from – a street fighting orphan with lung problems to falling in love with the most amazing man and becoming a part of the most unusual club in Ouran history.

Everyone was talking animatedly about the last ride ball that the Host Club was having later that night. It was the last thing that the Host Club was going to do - ever. With the Twins and I graduating, there was no longer any of the host club left in school. So, Tamaki had an idea. We'd put on one last ball before closing the doors of Music Room 3 forever. It was almost sad but it was mostly nostalgic.

"We're going to have a lot of fun tonight!" Honey said happily.

"We made the best dress ever for Rikku," Kaoru bragged.

"Yeah, it's a one of kind design," Hikaru agreed.

"I hope you guys didn't go over board," I mumbled, making a face at them. Over the years I'd grown less shy around the men that I'd come to consider my family. What a mess of brothers.

"You'll like it," they promised.

I laughed but suddenly wasn't so sure. The twins were known for their craziness - especially when it came to my outfits. It had been bad a few times.

Suddenly, Takeshi gave me a kiss, out of really nowhere. It was quick but still breath taking.

"Whoa," I breathed, staring at him.

"I'm proud of you," he smiled. I turned red and looked away. Even after all the time we'd been together, he still managed to make me blush like the first day we met.

"Hey, no fair," Tamaki said scooting in between Takeshi and I. "I want to hug my precious daughter!" He locked me in a hug, squeezing me tightly to his chest.

"We want to hug Rikku too!" the twins whined.

"Stay back Devil Twins!" Tamaki warned, turning away from them.

"Kyoya," I groaned, smothering in Tamaki's vice like grip. "Make him stop! He's crushing me."

Kyoya got an amused look on his face. He wasn't going to help me. Stupid Devil Man. "I'm afraid I can't help you out of this situation." He pushed his glasses up on his nose. The habit had been pretty much broken over the years but he still did it to annoy me.

"Honey!" I called, reaching out for my cousin.

Honey had gotten taller over the last three years. He wasn't super tall like Takeshi but he was taller than me, about the same height as the twins. He looked down at me and said, with a smile, "I can't. Tama-chan wants to hug his daughter."

"Well, if you don't save me, you can't hug your cousin," I told him, sounding strained from not being able to breathe.

He smiled, obviously content to watch me be crushed to death by Tamaki. Weren't they all just the best?

"We have to go, Mitskuni," Takeshi said suddenly. "Take good care of her Kyoya."

He gave me a kiss with a grin and started to leave.

"Wait! Where are you going?" I cried reaching out to him. "At least save me, before you go!"

Takeshi pulled me out of Tamaki's death hold. I was laughing hysterically as I turned to face Takeshi.

"Where are you going?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.

"It's a surprise," he smiled at me and gave me another kiss. "Don't let them run over you. We'll be back at the ball. I'll meet you there later."

"Okay."

"Well," Hikaru began.

"Does this mean," Kaoru continued

"We get to play with Rikku by ourselves all day?" they cooed, stepping closer to me. I stepped further back.

"Tamaki and I will be accompanying you all day," Kyoya said, scribbling things down on his Black Book of Demon Knowledge. I was amazed that he still hadn't had to change books after all of this time. "So, you won't be doing anything too rough."

Apparently, there was a god and his messenger was Kyoya – somehow. But, there was something that I'd learned from the Host Club, nothing is impossible.

-Mori-

I walked into the jewelers with Mitskuni. There was a nervous feeling sitting in the pit of my stomach. I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing. And thinking about what I had to do later that night made me even sicker. I was already shaking.

"Everything will okay Takeshi," Mitskuni tried to encourage me. That was half of the reason that I brought him with me. That and he was my cousin and we did everything together. "You and Ri - chan love each other. It'll work out just fine."

Had to love his logic.

-Rikku-

It was an exciting day, as it was expected to be. After lunch at the Hitachiins' Mansion, the boys made me take them to the supermarket. I couldn't believe that after all the years that they'd known me and all of the trips to the commoner locations we'd taken, they still had an obsession with the culture. I figured they would've experienced enough of it.

Finally, we started to prepare for the party. The twins pushed me into a dressing room, with my dress for that night. I didn't even object to them dolling me up anymore.

It was made of light, silky fabric. It was black and went down to just past my knees and had spaghetti straps. There was a sparkly red sash around the waist with a diamond encrusted thing in the middle. I put it on. The twins had really gone all out on this dress but they exercised an amazing amount of self control by not making it Paris runway worthy.

I smiled at myself in the mirror. Over the last few years, my hair had gotten a little longer. It was down at my shoulders now, and some of the host club members (mainly the twins and Tamaki) asked that I never cut it again. I'd also filled out a little, getting a bigger chest and all that. I now looked less like a pretty boy and more like a pretty girl.

With one last look at myself, I went out to join the host club. Takeshi gave me a surprised smile, letting me know what he thought of the dress. I turned a little red and looked at the floor.

We lined up across the front. Tamaki was on the balcony behind me. I was in the middle area, the twins on either side, Honey and Kyoya and then finally Takeshi at the very end beside his cousin.

"Thank you," Tamaki said in his usual grandiose fashion. "From the bottom of our hearts, for joining us one last time as our Host Club guests. Please, enjoy the festivities."

We all bowed and the party began.

-Mori-

_I'll have to thank the twins, _I thought after seeing Rikku in her dress. I couldn't stop staring. _She looks... breath taking. _

__After the introduction, we moved out into the crowd. All of the host club insisted on dances with Rikku, which didn't bother me. I needed time to gather myself anyway.

The dance with Mitskuni and Rikku wasn't really a dance. They just spun around in rapid circles, laughing the whole time. Despite the fact that Mitskuni had grown and looked a little older, he still kept to his cutesy, Lolita attitude.

After Mitskuni, Kaoru - I think, I never figured out how Rikku told them apart, though she'd tried to teach me - stepped in and danced with her for a minute before handing her off to his twin. They were simple dancers, smiling as they danced.

After him, Tamaki tried to cut in but Kyoya took her before he got the chance. That sent him into his patented Tamaki style fits. It was funny to watch. Kyoya talked with Rikku, probably commenting how foolish he thought the king was.

Once Kyoya decided that Tamaki had suffered enough, she passed her along to Tamaki. Rikku seemed to be having the time of her life. It was impossible to keep the grin on her face.

I knew how much she liked to dance. She'd dance with me in the kitchen of our apartment to no music. I wasn't sure why she liked it so much. She just did.

After Tamaki had his time, I interceded and danced her right out onto the balcony. The night was much cooler than inside the building, which great relief. I was going to smother in there. Suddenly, my collar seemed to tight, making it difficult to breathe.

"You look stunning," I told her, brushing some of her brown hair to the side.

She gave me an embarrassed look, her face flushing red and a smile creeping across her face. "Thank you," she said in a little voice.

I took her hand in mine. "You know, we've been together for nearly three years," I began.

_That's the worse opening line ever. Way to go idiot. Might as well run with it though, _I though, my inner idiot was working over time today. I wasn't very good with words and Rikku always understood that was half the reason I didn't speak much.

"I never want to be without you," I told her, slowly dropping down to one knee. "I love you more than anyone else in this world and I would be honored if you married me."

Rikku stared at me for a moment, her mouth hanging open in a perfect little o shape and her liquid emerald eyes wide with shock and unshed tears. It looked like her heart may have stopped beating. I knew mine did as I waited for an answer.

Finally, she responded my flinging herself on me and kissing me. "Of course!" she cried happily, hugging me as tight as she could.

I never figured out what I did to deserve her. I never expected Rikku to be so enthusiastic either. I was expecting a simple yes but I got a tackle hug, a kiss and a yes. Best night ever.

Rikku was asleep in the bed with me, curled up to my side, her new shiny engagement ring sitting on my chest. Her chest fell up and down evenly.

I picked her hand up carefully, to not disturb her as she slept. I liked my pinky with Rikku's.

"I'll love you forever," I mumbled. "This pinky promise is legit and if I break this pinky promise, you can break my pinky – promise."

I kissed the back of her hand and finally fell asleep.

**What a mushy ending. I hope everyone has liked this! There's one more chapter before the whole thing is over! Thanks for sticking with me this long and I hope you've enjoyed this journey as much as I have! Please make sure to review!**


	19. Chapter 19: Closing Arguements

**The final chapter! What an emotional trip it's been!  
I'm glad that you've been sticking with me this whole time.  
Thank you for all of your reviews and favorites! I'd be nowhere without your support!**

**Make sure to review and please enjoy the final chapter of  
Pinky Promises!**

Life started way to early in the morning. I hated waking up. Not because of the things I did and the people I'd see - definitely not - it was just that it was really cold outside of my safe blanket cocoon.

"Rikku," Takeshi mumbled in my ear. He had his arm draped across my waist and was practically laying on top of me. His weight was comfortable and warm. "Kids. Up."

I shifted underneath him, groaning a little, still not opening my eyes. "Fine," I sighed tiredly. "Did you enjoy your run this morning?"

"Haven't went," he grumbled, resting his forehead on the spot where my neck connected with my back. Yea. Neither of us were real morning people, so by genetics, neither were our children. On the plus side, we rarely had to deal with the crack of dawn wake ups.

I pulled myself out of bed, stretching and groaning a little bit. Takeshi and I used the divide and conquer approach to wake our kids up. He handled our twelve year old son and I got our six year old daughter.

"Shun," I whispered, bending over next to the small child. "Shun, it's time to get up."

She tried to roll away. I sighed, smirking a little. It was difficult to get both of my children up for another day at school. Especially Shun but the good thing about her was, like my son, there was someone that she always wanted to see.

"Hurry up or you won't be dressed when Yori get's here," I whispered.

That made her sit up at least, rubbing her eyes with her little fists. I smiled, mussing her black hair, and left the room, having already put her clothes out. I went down to the kitchen and I sat on the counter. Takeshi joined me shortly after. He wore flannel pajama bottoms and no tee shirt, exposing his still perfect chest.

He smiled, rubbing his fingers through his hair and gave me a kiss. The door opened, signaling the first of the Host Club and their kids to arrive.

"Takeshi! Rikku!"Honey said loudly upon entering. His two kids came bouncing in with him.

The oldest, Osamu, was the same age as my son. He reminded me a lot of Honey. He had the same blond hair and big brown eyes and he acted a lot like his father too. His younger son, the same age as Shun,was more like Takeshi. Strong and silent and protective. They sprinted upstairs to see their cousins. Despite how different the Honinozuka siblings acted, they both loved sweets and had weakness for anything cute though Yori tried to act more macho about it.

"Good morning Honey," I said, smiling. Takeshi smiled too.

Honey came right into the kitchen, grabbed our sugar jar and poured coffee into it. He got a spoon and started eating it. I flinched, making a disgusted face as I looked away.

"Ew," both Takeshi and I said in unison.

"School's out today," he told us, sounding a little more tired. I sometimes thought that it was contagious, not being morning people but then Tamaki would come bounding in and I rethought my theory.

"Why?" I asked.

"I dunno," he shrugged. "Means I got up for nothing."

I fought back a laugh.

Suddenly, noise came from the door as Tamaki and his son skipped in.

"Good morning all!" Tamaki said, in his melodramatic hyperactive fashion. "No school today!"

His son, Sora, bounced into the kitchen and hugged me. He was exactly like his father. Except, maybe not as emotionally stupid. He was one of the older kids at fourteen. He had brown hair like his mother, Haruhi – a nice commoner girl like me who died during childbirth – and Tamaki's violet eyes.

"Good morning big sister!" he said happily. He started that once he realized that his dad called me his daughter.

"Good morning little brother," I said, flashing him my 'host club smile' which still came in handy from time to time. Takeshi patted the top of his head.

Kyoya came in next, with his three kids. His daughter, Hana who was fourteen, was the pride and joy of the Ootori family. She'd have no problem taking over her father's company one day. His sons, Kaito, ten, and Seiji, eight, bounced in happily after them. All of them had the traditional Ootori looks, dark hair and sharp dark eyes thought the only one who could pull off the 'Devil Man Glare' was Hana.

Sora mauled over Hana, which brought flashbacks of the Host Club days. Tamaki prattled on to Kyoya how their kids were going to get married. Kyoya looked at his daughter like, you marry him and I'll disinherit you. She smirked helplessly at him. Everyone knew that it was going to happen and no one minded.

My son, Ichiro, came down the stairs toting Osamu on his back. Yep, Not much changed. Shun, carried by Yori came down after them. Ichiro looked and acted just like his father.

"I think they're doing it wrong," Honey mumbled, smiling.

The twins showed up shortly after. Their six hyperactive children dashing in. Their oldest, Hiro - who belonged to Hikaru - and Hiroshi - who was Kaoru's - were eleven. They acted more like twins than cousins and reminded me a lot of their fathers. They looked alike too. Then their youngest, the youngest of the whole group, Emi and Emiko - Hikaru's twins at four - and Riku - Kaoru's son, who was named after me, at four also - were more like triplets. I sometimes wondered how they survived without each other.

"There's no school today!" the Twins announced. "We should all do something together!"

"Yeah! We'll meet you in the limo!" Sora said, picking Hana up and sprinting outside. Kyoya didn't even try to intercede. The adults just smirked and chuckled lightly.

"Where are we going to go?" Kaito asked, jumping up and down, half hanging on his dad's arm, while his brother pulled at his father's other arm.

"Somewhere fun!" Osamu called triumphantly.

"Super fun!" Hiro and Hiroshi agreed.

"How about your beach theme park, Kyoya?" Tamaki suggested, pressing a finger to his chin. It was a spot we were regulars at when we were still in high school and that hadn't changed after the kids had came.

"We're in!" the twins agreed.

Hikaru picked up his twins, one on each arm and Kaoru picked Riku up.

"Let's go boys!" they said. "We'll meet you there!"

They dashed outside.

Everyone agreed to meet up at the Ootori's theme park. I smiled at all of the craziness. Time changed things but so much actually stayed the same. History might not have repeated itself exactly but it did have some amazing similarities.

-Mori-

At the theme park, every one was excited for a day of fun in the water and with each other. The twins' youngest kids weren't able to swim. They still had trouble walking up stairs. I found it funny to see them being so daddy like. I never could've imagined them that way in high school. Then again, I never saw a lot of things coming. Tamaki being a successful single father. Kyoya being married and Mitskuni having a serious son. Life never ceased to amaze me.

Tamaki's son made Kyoya's daughter put on a cover up to hide her bathing suit. Reminded me of how Tamaki treated Rikku along time ago. Kaito and Seiji then attempted to drown Sora.

Ichiro, my only son, reminded me a lot of myself. He liked to have Osamu to cling on him. He looked like me too. He was a simple boy like his mom though. He had simple tastes and was just glad to just be.

Then, there was Shun. She was a lot like your mother, except she was a clinger. Which worked out great with Mitskuni's son Yori, who liked to be clinged to. She also was very shy, easily embarrassed, and quiet.

"Daddy!" Shun cried, running up to me frantically. I sat up a little straighter, worried that maybe she'd been hurt or something. "I want to go swim in the deep part but Yori-chan won't take me!"

I sighed, glad that was all it was. "I'll take you in a minute," I promised her, patting the top of her head, with a smile.

She looked up at me. Her green eyes big and bright, just like her mothers. She held out her pinky, which surprised me a little. "Pinky prowmise?"

I linked my pinky with hers. My hands were a million times bigger than hers. She was small. So small.  
"Pinky promise," I said, smiling.

She was satisfied with that and ran off to tell Yori that I was going to take her to the deep end. It wasn't going to make him happy but he was going to learn that she was going to get her way somehow and that he'd just better give in so he could be there in case something happened. I went through the same thing with Mitskuni.

Shun ran into her mom on the way. Rikku - she was still as gorgeous as she was the first day I met her. She was wearing her black bikini top and black bikini shortie shorts. All her scars from the accident that had happened so long ago were out in the open. They didn't bother her as much as they did me. Criss crossing across her stomach, though they had faded over the years, I could still see them plainly.

"Takeshi," Rikku said, jumping into my lap, shocking me from my thoughts. "You're staring at me like I'm a mutant. Stop."

I smiled, slightly embarrassed and kissed her cheek.

_Time may change things but so much stays the same. There's no use in avoiding it. Time is going to march on weather or not we want it to. Might as well enjoy the time we have left._

_**And so, we're finished. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. I want to thank everyone who favorited and reviewed my story. This was kind of my baby for a while but even then, I'm glad I'm finished. Thank you so much! Please tell me your closing thoughts!**_


End file.
